Shining Light, Unbreakable Body, Indomitable Spirit
by D'nnome
Summary: "Though our body's weak and breakable. The spirit is indomitable!" Ruby holds such potential to save the world, but that is held back by her body too weak to combat the evils Salem will throw after her. But if that's not the case? Another God of Light, the Traveler, sees her heart and soul and gifts Ruby the unbreakable body she needs to let her Light shine through the Darkness.
1. There's a Light that Shines

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 1: There's a Light that Shines**

She was weak.

Deep down, Ruby knew she was weak compared to the evils of the world. She may be a master of the scythe trained by her Uncle Qrow, one of the strongest Huntsman in the world. But those skills have only earned her to be able to kill Grimm easily, and Ruby was ignorant that evil can manifest in humans as well. That there are people with darkness in their hearts that they would gladly watch the world burn by humanity's bane. She was fully overconfident to think that she can defeat all the evil in the world for everyone's happiness as if it was easy.

What good did her 'skills' do for her when stopping Torchwick and his robberies? What good was she really in a fight if she couldn't beat him or Neo on the ship? What good was she without Crescent Rose in her hands to defend herself? What good was her training if she wasn't even fast enough to save Penny? And now, the once proud city of Vale was burning and the once shining Beacon was being overrun by Grimm.

She was not the strong warrior.

At best, Ruby was above average, but she knew at some level that her skipping ahead two years to enter Beacon wasn't because of her skill. No, a paranoid part of her mind suspected there was some hidden agenda in it, but her blissful childish excitement long buried it away.

Her body was breakable.

However, in the wake of the calamity that will soon be known as the Fall of Beacon those doubts were climbing to the surface. The screams of pain that assaulted her ears all around her as people were dying were becoming muffled. Her breath was becoming ragged and labored, and her heart was beating loudly in her ears. The last clear words Ruby heard was Weiss saying that Pyrrha was alone on the tower facing Cinder, the one who caused all this.

Her body sprinted automatically scaling the tower with the application of Weiss' glyphs. Despite knowing her own glaring weakness, her body still went on to fulfill one of its core values: to save someone. That is why Ruby wasted the last of her Aura pushing her Semblance to the limit to get to the top. She didn't register the fact of the danger present, only that Pyrrha was hurt and she needed to get her out of there.

Even at that moment, Ruby could only do it half-right. She did in fact push Pyrrha out of the way, but at a grave cost of replacing the redhead. Cinder's arrow, previously aimed at Pyrrha's heart, instead struck Ruby's. She gave out in midair and felt herself and Pyrrha falling down. She heard Pyrrha shout something, but her senses were already dwindling from her pierced heart, but Ruby only spared a glance at the horrified redhead whose eyes were glued on the black arrow in Ruby's chest. Pyrrha wanted to save Ruby. The dying girl had different ideas for that.

With the last of her fading strength, Ruby pushed Pyrrha off the edge of the tower where Ruby knew Weiss will catch with her glyphs. In the end she managed to save someone only by having her own life in exchange. Ruby, in those moments where she felt her body going numb, finally realized just how small she was in the real world. It was heartless, merciless, and she deeply underestimated the evil of the world.

_'Pathetic.' _Ruby thought as her vision continued to blur. _'I wanted to be a hero, but I can't even save myself.'_

Darkness took her vision. Or at least Ruby thought so. As soon as her blurry vision dimmed to nothingness, light exploded across her vision. Blinking momentarily, Ruby hitched a breath in her throat as she found herself... floating? This was either a lucid dream or she had gone to heaven because Ruby was currently standing in a very wispy white cloud that surrounded her like a fog. Below her was some sort of city she didn't recognize with high walls surrounding it and a great tower at one end that overlooked the city. In the distance was landscape untouched with high, snow-capped mountains and beyond that were forests.

Her gaze was drawn ahead and her eyed beheld what she can only describe as a planetoid that levitated just above the city. It resembled a shattered moon with a smooth, pure white surface. Shards of itself floated around it, converging on the mass of intense white light burning in the core.

It didn't pose danger to the city though, and in fact Ruby felt an odd sense of safety just looking at the... object. Indeed, the more Ruby looked at it, the more obscure and mysterious the _entity _was becoming to her. Words not of her usual control went through her head of trying to understand the _anomaly. _Was it a moon? Was it a machine? An existence? A life of some sort? A... god?

Whatever the case as soon as Ruby's eyes looked at the planetoid, she had no will to pry her eyes from it. She didn't even register the fact her body was pulled towards the embrace of the entity where the intense white light that was its core was exposed. Ruby's mind was basically going blank as an immense presence bore itself completely upon her. Something that was that was so high above her understanding and placement as an existence.

Somehow, Ruby could feel that the Light was judging her. No, the Light was gleaming through every pore of her being. Memory, beliefs, or character, nothing was hidden from the Light's investigation. The more Ruby floated there under the Light's scrutiny, tendrils of the Light reached out. Fear was clawing at Ruby's mind, fear that this being was going to kill her or destroy her very being. That it would discard her as a nuisance.

But as soon as that fear came to mind, her heart spoke louder in... joy? Suddenly, the 'gaze' of the Light softened as it made its judgement, and though Ruby was never conveyed of what her soul and heart knew the answer. And through them, a myriad of emotions soared through her, and none were negative. Then she knew from the deepest parts of her very self that the Light has accepted her. No logical thought process bothered Ruby as she reached her right hand out towards the Light.

And in return the Traveler was reaching out its great gift as the light grew like a solid mass. Ruby was bathing in it, and the Light hugged around her promising to always protect her from harm and to assist her dream. For the Traveler has seen her heart and soul holding the same qualities all Guardians need and more. It has seen her desire for salvation and happiness of those around her. To be a hero that saves the day, not in glory but in the good of heart. An innocent soul of such dream of heroics that was about to fall, but the Traveler could not let that happen. After all, a world always needs more heroes.

As Ruby bathed in the Light of the Traveler, a god of Light that has sacrificed its existence solely for the safety of lower life-forms, her clothes began to change. Tears and damages wrought upon her leather corset and skirt not only mended that molded into a different shape.

No longer was she weak.

What was once a corset, stockings, and a black skirt changed into advanced dark grey armor. A belt with multiple holsters replaced her skirt while leggings of hardened black mesh that hid away any skin studded with red steel replaced her stockings yet not too much to restrict any movement. Most of the armor concentrated on her replaced top, but even that was considered light in its sleek appearance that made sure to map her curves.

No longer was her body breakable.

Her sleeves were replaced in gauntlets of body suit connected to her torso which was then light layered with red armor. Black gloves with a red steel hid away the rest of revealed skin, yet felt as though she had nothing on at all.

She was unbreakable.

A helmet materialized itself upon her head black in appearance with red sockets for visors and a slight hood above the forehead. Over the lip, a breathing mechanism was built with two points sticking out of the chin. The frame of the helmet was not bulky or cumbersome, but was instead smooth and sleek and the dark grey metal gleamed in the light.

Her spirit is indomitable.

And finally, Ruby's favored cloak received its blessing from the Light as its sleek appearance gained a paneled texture and a symbol of a top view blooming rose was etched in the center.

This power was hers.

Ruby did not register the transformation, but the power was suffusing through her and the knowledge flowing into her mind. Her right hand that was reaching out to the Light made to grasp something, and she felt a solid mass that she grabbed. She could tell there was another presence from the object she grasped. If she could see it, she would notice a small metal ball with a blue cybernetic eye. She held it out to the side with an open palm, and the black eye formed a prismatic white chasis with rose red accents around it.

And she will let her Light shine.

Ruby glanced back at the Traveler, the God of Light, the very first Guardian of humanity. An entity that has brought miracles and sacrificed itself for the same people. A silent message was spoken between them and Ruby nodded. Behind the visor sockets of her helmet, her silver eyes burned with the very same Light with a slight blue sparking of Arc Light. She returned her glance to the 'device' floating above her palm, and now her new life-time partner. A smirk was shared between them, or more for Ruby's case.

"Eyes up, Guardian."

No longer shall she fear the Darkness. She hunts the Darkness now. Be afraid, Darkness. Be very, very afraid of the Light's new Hunter.

* * *

(Remnant)

"Pyrrha, where's Ruby!?" Weiss exclaimed in a panic.

The Schnee heiress had just cleared the area around the tower of Beacon when she saw Pyrrha falling from the top. A quick use of her Semblance and she slowed Pyrrha's fall to a soft thud. She was unable to stand made obvious by the glass arrow in her heel. Once she had Pyrrha out of immediate harm, her concern went right to her partner.

Weiss however did not receive a word from the Mistralian champion. The silence could have been considered the worst possible answer. Pyrrha's face scrunched in a pained grimace as several emotions flashed over her now dim eyes. They were all for Weiss to see, including grief, guilt, and remorse. She felt as though her heart was being tugged ferociously in an iron grip as the worst came to mind. It couldn't be possibly true, right?

"Pyrrha." Weiss said in lower voice that was breaking, "Please tell me Ruby's okay. She can't. She... She..."

_'She doesn't deserve to die.' _

"... I'm sorry." Whimpered Pyrrha, sniffling as tears ran down her cheeks. "She took an arrow for me... If it weren't for Ruby I would be dead... but..."

Pyrrha broke down into low sobs, her hand held in her face. She believed Ruby taking the arrow to the heart was her fault. She, the supposed "Invincible Girl" failed and one of her friends paid the price. Survivor's guilt set in the redhead, wishing that Ruby was too late just so she herself could die instead of Ruby.

Weiss took it more dramatically and shockingly. Her pupils dilated so small and for a moment she couldn't breath. Mrytenaster shook in her hand before it fell to the floor. Her legs soon buckled, the strength of them lost from the shock. When she was on her knees, Weiss remembered to breath but it came out in gasps that were bordering on sobs.

"No..." Weiss griefed, tears streaming down her face in greater volume. "No... No, not Ruby... Please, please, please not Ruby."

Weiss didn't want to accept because she couldn't accept it. Ruby may have been a child of good talent, but Weiss admitted she was one of the best friends she had ever made. She was a ray of sunshine for all of Team RWBY and their guiding light in the battle. Then she thought back to her remaining teammates, Blake and Yang, and on that thought thinking about the latter made more tears pour down her eyes and hold her mouth to keep in sobs. Yang was going to be devastated that her sister is dead. No, the blonde sister of their team leader was going to breakdown on the emotional level, and will be considered dead inside.

A growl snapped Weiss back to attention and her head spun to the side to see Grimm return to the area. No, she could not let it slide. Weiss Schnee was not going to let her best friend's sacrifice go in vain. Grief was replaced with fury aimed at the soulless monsters that caused all of this to happen. Her hand went back to Myrtenaster, and a giant glyph glowed to life at her feet. Her sudden rise in anger attracted the Grimm's attention, but Weiss did not care. The only thing on Weiss' mind was to make them pay for every inch of ground, and on her honor as a Schnee she will avenge Ruby's death.

"Come and get it, you soulless fucks!" Weiss roared, and from her glyph a fully summoned knight appeared at her command, brought forward by the raging soul.

The knight looked more to be a terror of the darkness with its supposedly sleek plates studded with me intimidating spikes of black and a helm of crude make topped with dark circlet. Instead of the usual two-handed sword, it held a giant mace in its hands, and a black cape was draped down its back. Black slits were shown in the helm, yet even if the eyes were nonexistent the hated gaze shared from its creator could be physically felt by other fighters.

With a roar of rage came Weiss charging at the Grimm, followed shortly by the summoned knight. Grimm were cut ruthlessly down into ribbons by Weiss, whose swings were enhanced in her enraged state. The summoned knight proved to have far more destructive power than its creator, and with a single swing of its mace whole lines of Grimm were obliterated.

Back on the top, Cinder and the Grimm dragon reveled in the chaos that went below them. The carnage brought on by the White Fang and the Grimm brought a smile to the agent of Salem. Their suffering meant nothing to her as long as she had power. And power she was awarded bountifully with the Fall Maiden's magic.

The corpse of Ruby was left unattended. It was a confirmed kill since Cinder knew that her arrow struck cleanly to the girl's heart; it was still lodged in her in fact. But if she had looked back, Cinder would have noticed a little floating device with a singular blue eye with a white prismatic chasis decorated in red accents. She would have noticed the eye using a scan, and in response a white light shining behind Ruby's closed eyes. Only when the 'device' opened its chasis to reveal the mysterious Light of the Traveler did it catch the attention of the Grimm dragon.

Its alarmed screech soon drew Cinder's, but it was too late as their world erupted in blinding light. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem if an intense explosion of fire and heat did not assault them. Cinder's eyes widened as the explosion knocked off her feet, but she was more shocked by the heat of it all that was actually harming her. The Grimm dragon had it worse off as even being at the furthest reaches the mystical heat of whatever burning flame coming from Ruby's body was instantly scorching its dark flesh.

The light soon died down and the Grimm dragon regained vision to see what this new threat was. It only caught a glimpse of a 'new' figure standing over the previous spot of the dead human. This one was adorned in dark grey light armor with some red steel plating dotted across her torso, legs, arms, and shoulders, but little enough to not hinder movement. She was draped in a familiar red cloak, but the face was hidden by a helmet. The most eye-catching was what lay in the figure's hand, and it can only be described as the sun itself shaped into a magnum.

To the newly minted Hunter-class Guardian, she knew it perfectly as the Golden Gun of the Gunslingers.

BANG!

The magnum unleashed a ray of Solar Light, the very first, and the Grimm dragon's head was obliterated into ash. Its body lurched back from the loss of the head, and soon the giant mass slid off from its perch to fall back to the ground. A perfect shot as Gunslingers always look for.

"I'm alive..." The voice of Ruby spoke from behind the helmet.

Ruby Rose was dead a moment ago, but then she was revived. No, in a way she was given an entirely new purpose of life. The Traveler had judged her right, and blessed her with knowledge to help in her journey. She flexed her right hand, still wreathed in Solar Light of her Supercharged state. She could feel the Traveler's Light, her Light, empowering her to new heights that Ruby couldn't imagine. This is what she needed to succeed. To help the people around her.

Ruby Rose, Huntress-in-training of Beacon academy has died on top of Beacon tower. From there, Ruby Rose, Hunter-class Guardian and the first of Remnant, was born.

Her new partner, the Ghost that found and revived Ruby, was oddly silent. He was in fact surprised by his new partner. It was risky he would admit finding a partner in this new world during some sort of crisis, yet he was oddly drawn to this specific person. She wasn't even dead yet when he began the reviving process. But now he knew why. The Traveler itself guided him to her because Ruby's Light was one of the greatest the Ghost had ever seen in a Guardian. So much Light in fact that upon revival she had instantly went into her Supercharged state with the Gunslinger subclass.

_'Incredible.' _Thought the Ghost. _'I made a good choice in a partner if she has this much Light.'_

"You," Ruby turned her head to the side to find a recovering Cinder, "Who are you to interfere with me?"

A cliche person would have let the villain kept on monologuing till the very end where she pulls out some bull crap. A Hunter, however, thought differently than other people do, especially compared to their Warlock and Titan cousins. They were free spirits, and usually don't give a crap of what they do.

As Ruby remembered, she still had five shots left in the Golden Gun to put to good use. She whipped up the manifestation of Solar Light to aim from the hip and fired off while fanning it. The last five shots landed with pinpoint accuracy upon the pyromaniac bitch. The first two she survived, but no matter how big her Aura even it could not withstand against the onslaught of the bullets of the Golden Gun. The last three did the desired damage as the third blew off her left arm, the fourth shot followed to blowing out her left eye, and one final one aimed at her kidney.

All of this went down in the span of only one second. Cinder stood there, still trying to process what just happened before she unceremoniously collapsed to the floor face first.

"That was for Penny." Ruby spat, the Golden Gun and the Solar Light aura fading as her Supercharged state ran out.

Ruby held out her right palm, and her Ghost appeared in a flash of light.

"Hi." The Ghost spoke, his voice though digital held a child-like tone to it and was quite nervous.

"Hi." Ruby greeted with her own awkwardness. "So who are you?"

"I'm your Ghost." He answered. "I mean, not that kind of ghost. I mean a Ghost created by the Traveler. We go around to find Guardians that we revive and partner up with. So that means I am your Ghost. Uhm, I already said that..."

"It's alright." Ruby assured with a smile behind her helmet. "I am fine being your partner, though I don't know about just calling you Ghost. How about... Pine?"

The Ghost seemed to think about it before nodding. "I think I like that name. Thank you, Guardian."

"Please, call me Ruby." The newly made Hunter replied as she picked up her loved Crescent Rose.

"Okay... Ruby." Said Pine, testing the name out.

"Now then," Ruby mused as she looked over the edge at the Grimm still terrorizing the city, "I still have some more thing to kill."

"That's a lot of enemies." Pine said with a mental grimace. "I don't think we have enough guns. Or ammo for that matter"

"Well, where am I supposed to get them then?" Ruby asked, knowing her combat effectiveness was decreased despite her new powers and she sheathed away Crescent Rose.

"I believe I have that covered." Pine answered. "Good thing the Guardian Warlock around here allowed me access to his inventory."

Before Ruby could ask, she felt a sensation on her back and hand. In her once free right hand was now a handcannon, her Energy Firearm to be precise. Holding it in her hands gave Ruby a sense of right with the gun, and she could feel the Solar Light that charged the ammo it contained. She holstered the weapon to bring out her primary, which turned out to be a Scout Rifle. Its specifications however provided more stability at the heavy cost of range. She could live with that.

"Would you like to play a soundtrack?" Pine asked. "A hero should always come in with some sort of awesome soundtrack."

Ruby could only smile back as she cocked back her Scout Rifle. "Surprise me."

* * *

**This is what I've been working on for this weekend. A Guardian Ruby was just too irresistible. In the coming future, I plan for Crescent Rose to be made into an Exotic Weapon as her Power Firearm. It kinda fits doesn't it? And what sort of bonuses would an Exotic Crescent Rose have?**

**I want to do the same for her cloak, so what is the good name for an Exotic Hunter's Cloak like Ruby's? Maybe Red Like Roses? And what bonuses would Ruby's cloak have?**

**For now, Ruby's main subclass will be Gunslinger until she learns Arcstrider. In hindsight, she will avoid the Void subclass since I don't see Ruby using a bow or twin blades as a Hunter.**

**One last little thing: Summer will make her appearance in the story as the new Hunter Vanguard to replace Cayde. Rest in peace, Cayde-6. We still love you, ro-bro :(. I hope Bungie does a celebration for you in the Festival of the Lost.**

**Up next is Chapter 2: And It's Power is Mine**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review.**


	2. And it's Power is Mine

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 2: And It's Power is Mine**

Fury filled every being of Weiss Schnee. Wrath carried every swing of Myrtenaster slashing through the hide of Grimm. Anger fueled her summon that effortlessly blew away hordes of Grimm with each swing of its terrifying mace. In the back of her mind, ominous whispers spoke of delicious promises, but they mostly went ignored in the state of Weiss' mind. All she wanted in this moment was to kill every Grimm in sight.

Pyrrha could not help but watch with shock at Weiss slaughtering her way through the Grimm that came close to her. Gone was the elegant and disciplined style of fighting that made the Schnee a dancer on the battlefield. Now Weiss Schnee was more akin to a berserker slashing through whatever black hide was in sight with reckless abandon. Any Grimm that tried to flank her met the dark knight and bashed to pieces with the construct's mace.

But at this point she couldn't help to care. Her emotions were far too drained in the recent events, and Ruby's sacrifice was the nail in the coffin. She was too far traumatized of seeing friends and allies killed right in front of her. Pyrrha even questioned why Ruby saved her at all. By all rights, she should've left her to die because it was Pyrrha who killed Penny.

Her thoughts were cut off when a loud crash resonated through the entire plaza. Fighters and Grimm both turned to the source only for jaws to fall at the headless corpse of the Grimm dragon and the monster that had been spawning the horde across Vale. Pyrrha herself gaped in shock at the sudden kill of the ancient Grimm. Heavy artillery had been pelting the damn monster without scratching it. Still, it was an unbelievable sight to see the great Grimm slowly turning into dust into the wind.

An audible clicking notified that the intercom system across Vale activated. Pyrrha expected that it was Cinder about to spout some ridicule again. A few seconds later of silence, it wasn't the words of a murderous terrorist. What everyone heard...

(Cue "Coyote Kisses - Six Shooter")

Was... music? Yes, it was indeed a type of rock music with a quick beat. Pyrrha didn't consider herself an expert of pop culture, but she was sure that she never heard of these lyrics, or she was sure a song like this would become relatively popular in local concerts and the web. Other students and fighters across Vale shared her thoughts with their confused expressions while the Grimm turned back to attention.

_(I took a)  
__Cheap shot.  
A clean miss  
Burning my defenses by the shakin' of her hips._

As soon as the lyrics started, Pyrrha's trained ears followed the swish of a knife through the air. She tracked, but barely as the speed as it was thrown was faster than anything Pyrrha had seen. It lodged itself expertly into the skull of a giant Ursa Major nearby, and the Grimm suddenly exploded in flames. These were oddly bright flames of a startling gold, so hot she felt as though the heat of their flames were already upon her. The Grimm near the Ursa unfortunately caught themselves on fire as well.

_(and then she)  
Moves in  
A quick kiss.  
Breathing down my neck, she had me wrapped around her wrist._

Multiple bangs of powerful gun rang out through the plaza, each shot aimed expertly at the heads of Beowulves. Whatever they were, the bullets were strong enough to pierce through the bone armor like butter. And then Pyrrha saw it and her breath hitched in her throat. A blur of red soaring down from the top of the tower. 'It' crashed down upon a poor Beowulf with feet crushing the Grimm's skull to soften the impact. The dust quickly settled from the impact and standing within the withering remain of the Beowulf was a feminine figure in light, dark grey armor hiding away any skin, and a sleek helmet hiding her face. In her hands was a bulky rifle of a design Pyrrha didn't recognize and at her hip was a long pistol of some sort. But the most eye-catching was the awfully familiar red cloak.

_'Th-That can't be!' _Thought Pyrrha in a mix of shock, joy, and hope. _'R-Ruby!?'_

_(I tried to)  
Break loose  
Tight grip.  
Knocking me unconscious when she bit her bottom lip._

The Grimm were already prowling upon the newcomer, but Ruby was much faster than before. She snapped to action, aiming her Scout Rifle at the heads of Grimm stupid enough to think they can sneak up on a Hunter. Ruby moved around on the spot by the swivel of her heel, each twist unleashing a bullet from the Manannan SR4. Her powerful Light was just that potent that she was granted access to wield the Scout Rifle, providing excellent handling and impact at the cost of range. Those parameters were perfect for Ruby.

_(It was a)  
__Lost Cause  
__A fast fight  
She ain't taking any prisoners; and she's through playing nice._

As the bodies of Grimm grew and more shards of bone flew through the air, her stand was broken from a threat above. A Grimm Griffon attempted to take out Ruby with a dive bomb attack. Shooting it down meant giving the surrounding Grimm a chance to attack her as well. Fortunate, Ruby had her Hunter's luck and noticed a tiny opening in the formation of Grimm converging on her. Wasting no time, Ruby dodged out of the way in a series of backflips enhanced by her Light. She weaved right past the Grimm and focused her Light into the palm of her hand. Bright Solar Light condensed into a ball, a grenade to be exact. One she used effectively by tossing right back where she dodged from just in time to stick on the Griffon as it landed.

(2x)_  
Loaded the bullets with my blood in the rounds.  
__Yeah, she's a sweet six shooter, she knows how to get down-  
__Until the kick-back, when my heart hits the ground  
__She said: "You think you're so tough, baby put your hands up."_

The Solar Light grenade gave a few blinks at the feet of the Griffon before it exploded in a tremendous display of burning fire. Embers sparked into infernos in contact with the bodies of the nearby Grimm, and there were so many the whole plaza lit up from the Grimm caught on fire. Ruby holstered her Scout Rifle and took out her hand cannon, spinning it on her finger before it rested comfortably in a proper grip in her right hand. Just like her Scout Rifle, her Energy Weapon was also a high profile weapon granted to her by her potent Light: Luna's Howl.

Howl it did as her right hand snapped to the right side. She was already aiming and firing on more targets when the first howl of the hand cannon went off. Grimm struck found themselves having holes burned right through them as they withered away. The bullets from Luna's Howl soared like golden shooting stars scorching anything in their path.

_(and so I)  
__Let Go  
I Gave In  
Feeling pretty good about the trouble that I'm in_

Ten shots later, Ruby flicked the chamber of the hand cannon open and replaced the empty mag with a new one. Just as she finished reloading, Ruby dodged out of the way of giant golden stinger that nearly got her head. She whipped her head to a Deathstalker that tried its luck at killing her. A crackpot of an idea made its way into her head, whether it was her Hunter's instinct or her own.

_(she got me)  
__Beat down  
Bruised up  
I'm bleeding, barely breathing, but I can not get enough_

Pine automatically gave her a spare magnum for her hand cannon, even as he gave Ruby a worried look. She started with a run right for the Deathstalker. In the right range, Ruby threw the spare magnum up into the air over the Deathstalker and simultaneously threw a knife at one of the Grimm's soft eyes. The burning Solar Light construct caused it to move one of its clawed arms in pain. That was when Ruby sprinted to the max with the help of her Semblance to slide under the giant scorpion.

(2x)  
_Loaded the bullets with my blood in the rounds.  
__Yeah, she's a sweet six shooter, she knows how to get down-  
__Until the kick-back, when my heart hits the ground_  
_She said: "You think you're so tough, baby put your hands up."_

Time seemed to slow for Ruby as she slid under the Deathstalker and unleashing a full round of Luna's Howl into its soft underbelly. The burning bullets buried themselves inside the foul flesh of the Grimm. Scorching pain flooded through the Deathstalker's whole body, making it convulse in a spasm. Once Ruby slid out the other side, she stood back to her feet as the Deathstalker fell to the floor dead. The empty mag fell out Luna's Howl only to be replaced with the spare Ruby had previously threw earlier, landing perfectly in the chamber to be flicked back and ready to fire.

(3x)  
_She gets me deep in the chest  
__Straight through my bullet proof vest  
__She kisses like a grenade  
__Like a blade, or bayonet_

On the outside, the Hunter seemed professional over her little show-off, but behind the helmet Ruby's face was split in a fangirlish grin. Was it possible to a fangirl of herself? She may have done it herself, but Ruby wasn't any less mind-boggled.

_'I - am - AWESOME!' _Ruby screamed internally, and barely keeping herself from screaming out at the top of my lungs. _'H-How did I do that!?'_

_'I know, right?' _Pine agreed. _'Upon choosing our partners, we Ghosts transfer basic skill set to ensure new Guardians' safe return to the Last City. Can't have them dying over and over on the first day?'_

_'That's basic!?' _Ruby gaped.

_'Hmm, I guess it's different for you.' _Pine guessed. _'Your revival was... different. You were just nearly dead, less than second really. Not only do you retain your memory but you are also trained in combat. Maybe it sort of built on top of that.'_

_'Okaayy...' _Ruby replied, the roars of Grimm bringing her back to attention. _'Questions for later.'_

Behind her helmet, Ruby's eyes scanned over the Grimm regrouping for another attack. Behind her, students, Huntresses, and Huntsmen were recovering at the Tower. Her recent culling of the hordes of Grimm gave them the breathing room they needed, but they needed a miracle. Lucky for them...

**SUPERCHARGED**

(2x)  
_Loaded the bullets with my blood in the rounds.  
__Yeah, she's a sweet six shooter, she knows how to get down-  
__Until the kick-back, when my heart hits the ground_  
_She said: "You think you're so tough, baby put your hands up."_

She's standing right there.

Ruby holstered Luna's Howl away as Solar Light surged all over her body. In the dark of the night, Ruby became a miniature sun. A golden light of hope for everyone to look forward to. Her right hand snapped to the air and the Golden Gun manifested yet again. The summoning itself unleashed an explosion of Solar Light that disintegrated any Grimm that were already too close to her. When the first loud bang of the Golden Gun sounded did the true slaughter begin.

In Ruby's case, every kill dealt by the Golden Gun brought back that same shot. Considering that the Grimm as she has discovered were not too fond of Solar Light, that meant unlimited ammo for a very happy Ruby. Add to the fact she was constantly fanning the back of the hand cannon with no need to stop thanks to the Light enhancing nothing was getting past her. To the spectators, Ruby was putting a spectacular light show as she stood on the front line wreathed in golden light whilst releasing countless bullets of Solar Light too fast for veterans to see.

Grimm were gunned down by bullets of the Golden Gun raining down on them in the fury of the heavens. Nevermores required two or three shots before falling to the ground, but that was easily through collateral kills of Beowolves, Creepers, and Ursa. A whole street full of Grimm may already be withering away in five seconds and Ruby would be moving on the next horde in her line of sight.

A whole minute of fanning the (unlimited) Golden Gun and the horde was more or less decimated and the Grimm making a retreat. Orbs of Light left by her kills littered the streets all drawn into Ruby to charge her Light. This power was one to persevere for eternity. For she needed to hold the line against foes dangerous enough to inflict extinction. Her power was meant to be eternal so she stands as an invincible wall against the Darkness. That was what it meant to be a Guardian.

(End Song)

_'That was an amazing first rodeo, Ruby.' _Pine chirped happily. _'But I think we're not done yet, not as long as there are still people. More will come here soon.'_

It was a hard pill to swallow for Ruby. Beacon has been overwhelmed, the academy that was a shining light of hope for future Huntsmen and Huntresses. One of the pillars of Remnant, fallen down overnight. She at least had done the most to lessen the impact of the damage done on a whole. Steeling up her nerves, Ruby faced the group of fighters, all looking at her for direction.

"This is your chance!" Ruby shouted, her voice distorted by her helmet. "Make your way to the docks for evacuation! Carry anyone who can't run for themselves! The Grimm won't care who can or can't run! Go now!"

The gathered humans and Faunus scrambled into movement making their way to the port where ships were waiting for evacuation. Ruby grimaced as she saw more than a few people had to be carried, mostly because of missing limbs. For a moment, her eyes landed on Pyrrha being carried by Nora. Her green eyes met her stare and Ruby could see the confusion and concern directed towards her. As for Weiss, she had to be dragged away to stop herself from continuing to fight the Grimm lest she suffer from Aura exhaustion. Ruby didn't know why, but she felt her heart freeze when her eyes settled on her partner and the unlikely eyes of rage that she had.

_'Don't, Ruby.' _Said Pine. _'Not yet. As far as they know, you died today. The Guardians have just freshly discovered this lost world and it was a risky decision by the Vanguard to issue Ghosts to scour the planet with under the watch of a Guardian careful to not be discovered and keep the Vex from invading your world. I know you have a lot of questions, but they will be answered soon.'_

_'I can't just leave them!'_ Ruby argued. _'I have to at least tell them I'm alright!'_

Hordes of Grimm reappeared down the streets. There were far more of them than last time, enough to cover the once grassy hills and fields in pitch black with dots of white. But the Guardian stood valiantly against the horde with her Scout Rifle in hand and her Light ready to be unleashed. They will kill her, but Pine will just resurrect Ruby again to continue fight. For her spirit will endure in eternal vigilance to ward off the Darkness.

"Civilians have evacuated the area." Pine informed, appearing over Ruby's left shoulder.

"Good." Ruby said, aiming down her sights. "Now then-"

"Fortunately, our Warlock has made it in time." Pine added, his tone apologetic. "I'm sorry, but you have to go to the Tower."

"Wha-" Ruby said, but cut herself when she found herself breaking apart into motes of light for teleportation. "NO! NO, I CAN"T LEAVE TH-"

It was useless to resist and Ruby's voice became an echo once she disappeared. The Grimm arrived to find Beacon abandoned and so roared to the night in a crushing victory against humanity. But up above them cloaked in the shadows of the night was a craft the size of the house levitating hundreds of feet above them. When Ruby was fully teleported, thrusters roared to the maximum as the ship broke the atmosphere far from the reaches of both humanity and Grimm. Yet, it was going closer to forces beyond understanding.

* * *

(Yang)

Aboard one of the ships fleeing Beacon lay Yang Xiao Long lying alone in a medical bed. Her hair was sun-kissed gold reaching to her waist, and she wore a brown coat that stopped at her midriff. Her lilac eyes were closed in deep sleep. Unfortunately, her right arm was cut passed the elbow.

Without anyone conscious to notice, a blip of light appeared right over Yang's head. In a flash appeared a Ghost with a singular golden eye. Its turquoise shell was the shape of cube with two halves of it revolving. Its eye glanced between the chopped arm and the face of Yang as though in careful assessment. It came to a decision when it suddenly flew back.

"You'll make a great Titan." The Ghost said, his voice a bit deeper than the norm. "Gotta fix that arm though."

Light surged forth in such quantity that its shell broke apart and revealed the eye as a singular black ball. From that ball, intense light was released and poured into Yang's body. The Light of the Traveler flowed through her veins and changed the teen to the molecular level. Her already impressive strength multiplied to meet the specifications she was suited to, and her skin gained a bit more color to it. Finally, the missing limb Yang once had regrew to its origin as though no damage was ever caused.

For a moment, Yang was adorned in bulky armor, colored red and white with a gold sash at her waist. It disappeared just as quickly, but the Ghost was no longer there no residing in Yang's body. He had to play this safe.

* * *

(Blake)

"Yep, definitely Hunter." Spoke a rather smooth, feminine voice.

The origin came from a Ghost with a purple eye covered in a diamond-shaped shell. She, if her voice was any indication, was currently assessing a potential Guardian. In fact, she would be the first of her species to join the ranks as her cat ears were a dead giveaway as a Faunus. The Ghost had stumbled upon the teen, a girl with ash-black hair and golden eyes, passed out in the middle of the forest from exhaustion. There was a stab wound in her side, possibly a pierced kidney, and if she doesn't get it treated Blake may die from infection.

"Hmm." The Ghost mused as it scanned through Blake's memories to make a judgement. "Poor girl to have gone through so much. You have good in your heart, but you cling to the Darkness to hide you away. But all that will do is feed on your fear. Not on my watch, young lady. This time, trust the Light to guide you."

The Ghost's shell opened and the Traveler's Light binded to the Faunus girl. Her limbs toned more as the Light enhanced to that of the Hunter class, and the wound in her side healed away. When it was done, a purple glow surrounded Blake and the Ghost disappeared. An hour later, Blake awoke, oddly refreshed, and continued her retreat to safer lands, unknown to what has been thrusted upon her.

* * *

**In Rose of Babylon, people have been asking me if I am doing too much. Well the answer is that I am a masochist. And secondly is that Rose of Babylon won't be a priority. It will most likely be more like a crack-fic if anything else.**

**Needed to get this chapter out there to keep it alive, then going to the Witch Princess of Chaos. You might be wondering about Weiss, but I have something special planned for her. Not so fortunate for her father, but special for Weiss still. Here is a list of the new Guardians of Remnant.**

**Ruby Rose**

**-Class: Hunter**

**-Sub-class: Gunslinger.**

**-Way of the Outlaw.**

**-Gear: Manannan SR4 (Primary), Luna's Howl (Energy), Crescent Rose (Exotic Power).**

**Special Gear:**

**-Crescent Rose: Exotic perk grants mecha-shift to change from a sniper rifle to a scythe. Can change energy between Void and Arc.**

**-Indomitable Spirit: Exotic cloak that grants the perk Beacon of Hope (More orbs generated with a fireteam; Picking up own orbs grants bonus sprint speed and weapon handling.) Perk is Overflowing Light (All abilities are improved against the Darkness. Grenades and Melee do more damage, Dodge recovers faster, and Super is extended.)**

**Yang Xiao Long**

**-Class: Titan.**

**-Sub-class: Sunbreaker.**

**-Code of the Devastator.**

**-Gear: Unknown; Gjallarjhorn (Exotic Power)**

**Blake Belladona.**

**-Class: Hunter.**

**-Sub-class: Nightstalker.**

**-Way of the Wraith.**

**-Gear: Unknown.**

**Weiss Schnee.**

**-Class: S!C?OR**

**-Sub-class: G?D?GE?**

**-P? ?F S?**

**-Gear: ? ("RUN! RUN! RUN!" - Transmission from Ghost in Atlas.)**

**Here's a little sneak peek for Chapter 3: Strong and Unbreakable.**

_**"Welcome to the Last City. The last stand of humanity."**_

_**"You have so many weapons! Can you teach me how to build my weapons."**_

_**"I feel like we're are going to be good friends, Hunter."**_

_**"I need one those bodies!"**_

_**"An Exo?"**_

_**"It's for my friend."**_

_**"Maybe Rasputin can help you with that... If he's in the mood."**_

_**"And here is the Vanguard. There's Ikora Rey for the Warlocks, Zavala of the Titans, and just recently our new Hunter Vanguard Su..."**_

_**"M-Mommy!?"**_

_**"EHHHH!? I'm a what now!?"**_

_**"A Warlock using a bow?"**_

_**"Let's just say I am not most Warlocks, Ikora."**_

_**"That, and cooking in a kitchen. I find that relaxing about you more than your friend."**_

_**"Don't tell Rin that."**_

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review.**


	3. Arrival

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 3: Arrival**

"Take me back!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs as she banged her fist against the metal door. "My friends need me. They need to know I am still alive! Let me out of this thing right now!"

No reply responded from the other side of the several inches of industrial steel that made up the door. Not that she would hear any if Ruby didn't pause in her aggressive demands to be let out. Ruby was standing there in the plaza of Beacon ready to face down the hordes of Grimm only to be suddenly find herself in this unknown room. The whole compartment was made of metal from the floor to the walls and ceiling. They weren't any windows to show Ruby the outside, (and if she did she would have fainted to find she was in the void of space). Her first assumption that she was in some sort of prison cell, but the crates that filled most of the room suggested otherwise. That didn't make Ruby feel any better than being trapped from being with her friends and family.

As soon as the subject of family came up, her blood went cold when they eventually led to her sister, Yang. Her sister was going to break when she hears that she died. Ruby was not ignorant to the fact that she was one of Yang's emotional anchors in life. Without Ruby, her sister would be devastated to the point of crippled depression. It scared the Hunter if Yang was going to do something harmful to herself because of it.

Her desperation grew, and Ruby resolved to use her hand cannon to shoot the door open if she had to. Pine reappeared in alarm to warn her against the action. It was too late as Ruby unloaded the full clip, not even stopping as the bullets bounced off the blast door and the wall of the cargo bay. She had no time to react before Ruby own bullets struck back at, the first two getting her shields down and the last six or seven punching holes into her. Ruby let out a strangled gasp before she collapsed on the floor dead.

Pine sighed and Light was unleashed from his shell moving apart. Ruby's body broke into particles and reformed into a living, breathing body with the same exact soul. She had half the mind to try again until all her motions stopped. The Hunter inhaled rather dramatically, and slowly came to the realization that she had just killed herself.

She had died again. Died so uselessly and so stupidly. Behind her helmet, Ruby stared with a shattering look at Pine. If it weren't for Pine, she would be dead permanently and it would be because of her stupidity.

"I... I..." Ruby tried to form words, but the rest were getting stuck in her throat.

She was going to glance to Pine for support until said Ghost decided to ram into her forehead. It didn't hurt per say thanks to Ruby's helmet, but there was enough force in it to make her head stagger back.

"That was so dumb, partner!" Pine admonished, his blue eye twisting heatedly. "You're not in any danger, alright? We would never hurt another Guardian. I promise."

"...Okay." Ruby said dejectedly, too emotionally drained from her second experience of death to protest.

The Hunter decided to sit down leaning her back against the blast door and hugging her knees close to her body. The whole cargo hold was silent, excluding the hum of machinery in the walls and the slight buzz of the air conditioner. Ruby was coming to terms that for the first time that she was alone. Alone and going to a place to God know where far out of her family's reach, surrounded by strangers she has never met. Was this the price for the power granted to her?

No! No, she won't regret for what the Traveler has done for her in those moments she was dead. There was a purpose to this. A much higher purpose that was beyond the scope of Remnant. That much Ruby was sure of if the brief knowledge the Traveler gave her in that dream. Knowledge of the Darkness, an ever-hungry evil that has brought down civilizations. The question was where did Remnant and herself fit into all this?

"Hello." Ruby called out, but without any exclamation or heat in her tone. "Can you please let me out? It's too boring in here. I promise I won't do anything in here. So please? Pretty please with cherries on top?"

"I'll see what I can do." Pine said before he teleported to the other side of the blast door.

Ruby quickly took off her helmet and pressed her right ear to the door to pick out something on the other side. All the Hunter got in return was incoherent voices of two people. Both of them were robotic, one Ruby knew for sure was Pine, but the other was less refined like a radio with a deeper tone.

"... Fine." Answered the deep voice.

Ruby gave a shrill yelp when the door that was supposed to hold her straight suddenly slid back. Too late to notice, Ruby comically fell down on her back as the rules of gravity took over. Her eyes closed in reaction on impact of her head hitting the floor, but there was no serious injury. Already, her Aura, or now her shielding, absorbed the chip of damage and was regenerating thanks to her Light.

Silver eyes blinked rapidly to adjust to the bright lights that invaded her vision since falling into the new compartment of the ship. It took her a short moment to see they were lights upon a panel on the ceiling of functions Ruby had no idea were for. Her eyes studied more of the room as she picked herself up. On one side there was table littered with random gadgets and parts Ruby assumed were for crafting purposes. A rack of weapons and armor stylized in cloaks were set on the wall on the right.

Her eyes roamed more of the room until they locked on the first set of windows, and the sight they showed completely entranced her. It was not the sight of a blue sky of day with the light of the sun nor was it the familiar starry night since there was no moon. Ruby approached the window that made up the whole wall ahead of her and saw there was no land beneath them as the ship flew. Only the black void she was familiar of the night with stars littered across it.

It had to take Ruby's mind a whole five minutes as she stared at the void to realize where she was. She was not on Beacon or Vale, and as far as she knew despite the impossibility she was the farthest from Remnant as possible. Ruby Rose was in a spaceship currently in outer space.

"View's nice, isn't it?" Said a voice right next to her carrying a male tone distorted as though spoken through a radio.

Ruby's eyes widened and she went stiff at the voice. Slowly, her neck turned to the side to find the source. She was expecting to see eyes at least with a face of skin complete with lips and a nose. Meeting her gaze instead were blue fiber optics within the sockets of an exoskeleton frame of metal. The 'skull' was a 'helm' of bolted metal colored blue with a yellow square painted on top and a blue horn sticking out. Most of the face was a mesh of black metal to resemble cheeks and inside was bright blue light.

The pilot was a robot. A robot that was wearing a blue cloak and a stone armband covered in runes. A robot that was also a Guardian as Ruby deduced from the Ghost floating on his shoulder, which had a simple white shell and a yellow eye.

"Hi." Greeted the robot.

Ruby did not say anything as her face was stuck in shock. If one heard closely, one would hear a high-pitched squeak. Her hand automatically raised up to give a small wave to reciprocate the greeting.

"Surprisingly, you're taking this well considering this is the first time you've seen an Exo." Said the Exo. "Name's Axion, Guardian Warlock. My Ghost's Trish."

"A pleasure." Replied the Ghost in highly feminine voice.

"Well, you're not the first smart robot I've met." Ruby said, instantly panicking when she thought she made a blunder. "I mean, not that robots are dumb. Uhm, I mean robots are cool. Uhm, is calling you a robot offensive!? Then, I'm sorryit'sjustthatImean-"

"Woah, woah, easy there, little Hunter." Axion calmed the hyperventilating Guardian down. "Take a deep breath. Don't worry, you didn't offend me. It's perfectly natural."

Ruby took Axion's advice and over a course of a minute kept her racing heart down. "Sorry, it's just well... I'd never thought I'd meet another robot with a soul."

"'Robot with a soul'." Muttered Axion, musing over the words. "Yeah, guess that's an Exo in a nutshell. Old records say that Exos are hosts for human minds."

"That's so cool!" Ruby said, sparkles in her eyes as she studied the Exo closely. "How does it feel to be made of metal?"

"Not that I can't give you a description." Axion replied. "See, when a Ghost revives you, memories of the life before your death are gone. There are only a very rare few instances Guardians remember their past lives. Looks like you're one of the lucky few."

Ruby looked down downtrodden hearing how Axion's answer and his inability to remember his old life. "Oh, I'm sorry if I brought that up."

"Don't be so sad, Hunter." Axion assured, giving Ruby what was the best of a smile from an Exo as gears turned behind the cheeks to lift up the lower jaws. "Whether I remember my life or not, I am enjoying life now as a proud of Guardian. And soon, you'll be the same."

"Yeah about that." Ruby said. "Where are we going exactly?"

"To the Last City on Earth, the homeworld of humanity." Axion answered. "Or at least _my _homeworld of humanity."

"What?" Ruby responded, stupefied and confused. "Um, isn't Remnant our home?"

Exo released an audible hum as a sigh. "Young Hunter, I don't have the answers for your questions bubbling up in your head. Let's just say that your world, and mine, are a whole lot bigger than you can imagine. You might also want to hold onto something for this next part ahead."

Ruby looked out the window to see that the ship was flying towards the shattered core of Remnant's moon. The ship flew pass the shards of the moon, some ranging in size of whole cities and continents. They were left in total darkness at one side as the ship accelerated towards the exposed core of the moon without the light side to give them the light.

The newly minted Hunter felt unease being surrounded by so much bleak darkness. There weren't even any visible stars to the void of space and she suddenly felt a presence enclosing around her very being. It felt cold, so very cold that a part of Ruby wanted to make herself as small as possible. It was only the presence of Pine in her mind and the Light gifted by the Traveler that she kept a strong front.

"Sickening, isn't it?" Axion commented as though knowing Ruby's exact feelings. "When I first came here, this whole moon reeked of the Darkness. Be lucky we managed to get here before the more violent sorts made a move on your world. You ready?"

Ruby gave the Warlock a sure nod. She already knew there was no turning back at this point and a part of her was excited what lay ahead.

"Alright." Axion chorused, moving a lever up and Ruby felt more than heard the engines use their afterburners.

If Ruby was the same before being revived by the Traveler, she would have trouble seeing the blur of everything going by. As a Hunter, blurry vision didn't belong in her vocabulary. She saw perfectly as the ship neared a structure directly in the center of the moon. It was a 3D diamond shaped made of dark chromium metal that gleamed off the artificial lighting from the center that looked like a pool of liquid silver. The portal, as Ruby assumed, was ten times larger than the ship itself.

Ruby steadied herself as the ship increased in speed and dove into the silver center. The darkness from earlier was replaced by blinding light for a split-second before they emerged seemingly on the other side. She only got to see that wherever they arrived to was a massive tunnel lined with balconies and lines of cables brimming with light. A split-second of notice was enough for Ruby to see an army of robots with red eyes fighting against people of varying looks. But on some instinctual level, she knew the people that were fighting against the robots were fellow Guardians.

The ship rocked violently as those robots focused their attention to fire on the craft that exited the portal, but also giving the Guardians on the ground the crucial chance to kill them off. Ruby felt worry that major damage was done from the shaking, but Axion's calm composure kept her from panicking.

"Damn, the Vex really want their portal back." Muttered Axion, the ship already far away from the scene and out of the tunnel. "Gate of the Shattered, what's the situation?"

"Nothing much." Replied the voice of a young man. "Vex tried to retake the Gate again. Fifth time today too. But you see, we're not giving it back to you, scrapped fu-"

Axion cut off the comm link before the Guardian on the other side. Ruby blinked in surprise by the seemingly carefree attitude from the Guardian, besides his lack of profanity at the end. She kind of expected them to be professional.

Ruby's thoughts were cut off as the ship suddenly lurched and the void of space was replaced by brilliant white all around. She gaped at the brilliance that replaced the black void of space. Colors all meshed all together not as a rainbow and more of a crystalline beauty. It only lasted a moment before the ship reentered normal space and right before them was a whole planet.

At first, Ruby thought it was Remnant with the oceans and land, but the way the continents were shaped immediately broke that assumption. That realization left Ruby's mind numb. She had just traveled to an entirely new world, and to her it was a world so full of mystery. The ship dived down into reentry of the Earth's atmosphere, and once again Ruby saw green land below and blue skies above. They entered a thick fog, but as they delved into it Ruby could feel something calling for her.

"Hunter," Axion announced as they left the fog, "welcome to the Last City."

Ruby had no words to say, and she felt she could shed a tear. It was simply too beautiful to behold of the vast city that lay ahead of them. Skyscrapers taller than on Remnant dotted the whole city surrounded by a huge wall. At one side there was a tower with a top in a T-shape for ships to dock. But what caught Ruby's attention was the very familiar white planetoid floating over the city like a guardian.

"... there we have our commercial district." Axion listed off gesturing to parts of the city, "and last but not least-"

"The Traveler." Ruby finished before Axion spoke, her silver eyes giving off a slight glow the more she stared at the god.

"Right." Axion said, giving the Hunter an incredulous look. "I'll drop you off at the Tower and then I'll be on my way."

"You're leaving me?" Ruby exclaimed, her tone frightened. Behind the helmet, her silver eyes were teary and the Exo would have been subject to the classic "Puppy Eyes".

"I have a very important assignment which involves me looking after your world." Axion clarified by the beat. "You want your home to be overrun by murderous robots like the Vex."

"Okay." Ruby relented.

"It's fine to be nervous, Hunter." Axion assured with a smile. "A lot of us were like that, especially those with no memory to begin with. The Vanguard will help every step of the way so you can become legend."

"And don't forget about me." Pine spoke up as he appeared over Ruby's right shoulder. "I can provide you a tour of the Tower to make you more comfortable and show you to the Vanguard."

"Thanks partner." Ruby praised the Ghost.

"Alright." Axion said. "See ya later, Hunter."

With those words, Ruby and Pine disappeared in a flash of light and Axion lifted his ship up towards the sky to return to his position as Remnant's Guardian against any Vex that can sneak onto the alternate world of humanity.

* * *

(The Tower)

"Is - Is that a weapon shop!?" Squealed Ruby, her silver eyes sparkling as she looked at the Gunsmith.

A few moments ago, Ruby landed right in the center of the Tower. Her arrival didn't catch any alarms, but there were those that kindly greeted the Guardian. When Pine began the tour with the Eververse shop, Ruby was stunned by what the lady at the venue looked like. For once, she was sure that a person should not have blue skin or black sclera. Pine informed Ruby of the Awoken, which were basically humans changed by the cosmos of space, and that Guardians consist races of humans, Exos, and Awoken in their ranks.

It didn't take long till they got to the Gunsmith that she instantly started drooling at the lines of weapons built to disintegrate enemies. Add on the fact upon teleportation, her helmet was gone and her glossy stare at the weapons shop was receiving odd looks from the people around her. The Exo who was managing the shop just stood there confused at the assumed new Guardian drooling at his wares.

"What are you doing just standing there, Hunter?" The Exo finally asked, snapping Ruby out of her trance.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry." Ruby apologized, poking her fingers in embarrassment. "It's just that I _really _love weapons."

The Exo quirked an eyebrow. "That's... new. Normally Guardians come up to me asking for a weapon I've made and nothing else. Why do you such an obsession?"

"Well," Ruby explained hesitantly, "weapons are a part of ourselves, you know. The ones we always have reflect how we fight, each one unique to a person."

"Oh really." The Exo said amusingly. "What if I said that every weapon sold here was made by your truly?"

The Exo swore the moment he said those words, Ruby's silver eyes were producing sparkles and a high-pitched squeal escaped her lips. He blinked and suddenly the girl was right front of his face.

"You made all of these?!" Ruby squealed in delight. "Can you teach me?!"

The Exo blinked once then twice before the words registered in his synthetic brain. This Hunter was weirder than her own brood that's for sure. All Guardians have done was buy a weapon then go along with their day. Never has one not only appreciated their make, but also wants to get into the skill of crafting her own. A ghost of smile was on the Exo's face.

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble." Ruby said. "It's just that, well, it's obvious that all the weapons you have here are far superior than the ones back home, but I want to have my baby upgraded then."

"Your baby?" The Exo wondered.

Ruby grinned and pulled out Crescent Rose in its sheathed form. The Exo's optics studied the red object, noticing the multiple folding lines. He was trying to uncover the mechanics until Ruby gave the click. Everyone on the Tower stared in shock as a short Hunter was now holding a red scythe well over 7 feet in length with a humongous blade. The silence in the area was palpable that pin drop could be heard, and not even Lord Shaxx could manage to utter a word. Banshee-44 in all his centuries serving the Tower was left baffled at the weapon in Ruby's hands.

"Is - Is that a giant scythe?" Banshee spoke barely above a whisper.

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle." Ruby added with glee, hugging the scythe with care. "That's my baby, Crescent Rose."

"Where did you get this?" Banshee asked.

"I didn't find it." Ruby said, rolling her eyes. "I built it from scratch."

"You built this!?" Banshee exclaimed.

When he saw the affirmative nod from Ruby, Banshee couldn't hold it back. He roared in absolute laughter at this goldmine. A Hunter with a love for weapons with one can shift between melee and gun mod wants to learn from him. His opinion with the new Hunter instantly soared higher than anyone he knew. As far as Banshee was concerned, this Hunter became his best customer.

"Hunter, what's your name and what do you need me for with this magnificent piece?" Banshee asked.

"Ruby Rose." The Hunter introduced. "And Crescent Rose is awesome but I don't think it's up to the task of fighting the usual enemies now so I need a crucial upgrade now, and I'd rather get torn to pieces than have my baby scrapped."

"As if I would destroy this beauty." Banshee agreed. "Call me Banshee, and I'm fully on board to help you out."

"Yeah, and maybe we can exchange crafting techniques too." Ruby said.

Banshee smiled. "I think this is a start of a good partnership, Ruby. You go along and come back to me when we can pimp out your baby."

Ruby nodded and made her way away from the shop, all the while multiple eyes were locked on her and the giant scythe she had returned to her back. Pine led her way to the command center where she would meet the Vanguard. It was short walk going up a flight of stairs to a floor above the plaza.

It was there she met a more professional environment. Consoles lined the wall where officers worked to manage whatever was going on the screens. In the center over a table projecting holograms were three people who Ruby could feel the sheer weight of their Light.

"So you are the new Guardian from the other world." Ruby's eyes glanced to one of the three approaching her, a tall Awoken male in thick armor and a bald head. "My name Zavala, Vanguard of the Titans, and we welcome you to our fold, Guardian."

"Oh, uhm, my name is Ruby Rose." Ruby responded nervously, "It's, uh, good to meet you, too."

"I am Ikora Rey, Vanguard of the Warlocks." Spoke the brown-skinned woman with the bald head and wearing purple robes. "You are a Hunter so you must go to your Vanguard, but I offer any wisdom to your troubles if you need them."

"O-Okay." Ruby said. "So, who's my, uh, Vanguard?"

"That'd be me, little Hunter." Spoke a feminine voice that sent a jolt of familiarity in Ruby.

She turned to the third and last person to make her introductions to her new superior, but when Ruby saw the face of the Vanguard of the Hunter her whole world stood still. Pale skin with pink dusted cheeks that were slightly rounded, much like her own. Red-tipped black hair with two curls behind the ears, much like Ruby's own. And finally silver eyes that were the exact match to Ruby. The woman in question only difference to Ruby in appearance was her height and the fact her Hunter armor was mostly white and black.

Ruby knew this face. She knew this face because it was burned into her mind. The same face that she treasured for the short time she was in Ruby's life. Because how could she forget one of the most important people in her life?

"I am the Vanguard of the Hunters," Spoke the woman with a kind smile, "but you can just call me Summer for short."

Because how could Ruby forget the face of her own mother!

Seconds turned into minutes as the new Guardian stood rooted on the spot staring unblinkingly at the Vanguard Hunter. Summer's smile became strained in concern of Ruby's condition. Zavala and Ikora watched with confusion of the scene until the latter began to connect the dots.

"Oh my." Ikora muttered as she realized the uncanny resemblance between Ruby and Summer. Similarities can be considered coincidences, but the way Ruby looked like a younger version of the new Hunter Vanguard told something else.

"Uh, you okay there, Guardian?" Summer asked in concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost. A literal one, I mean. And now that I mention it you look a lot like me."

A sniffle came from Ruby and the Vanguard started to feel awkward as they could see actual tears starting to collect in Ruby's eyes. A crying Guardian seemed an impossibility, but that's not taking into account of Ruby's adolescent age. Summer had it the hardest thinking that she suddenly did something wrong to upset the Hunter. It was the second month on her job, and she was making a new Hunter cry for Traveler's sake. What would Cayde think of her?

"I-I'm sorry." Summer apologized profusely, leaning down to put her hands on Ruby's shoulders for comfort. "Did - Did I do something wrong? If I did, I promise to try to-"

"M-MOMMY!" Ruby exclaimed, instantly latching on Summer in a tight hug and began crying softly in Summer's shoulder.

If it weren't for Ruby's sobs, the whole room would be utterly silent from Ruby's exclamation. Zavala and Ikora were completely stunned going by the widened eyes. Eris Morn who was standing in a corner paused in her ministrations to turn her full attention on the silver-eyed pair. The officers around the place completely abandoned their stations to give gaping expressions at Ruby calling one of the most famous Hunters in recent years and the successor to Cayde-6 "mommy".

"Eh?" Summer responded intelligently the moment Ruby held her in a hug.

That is until her mind fully processed what Ruby exactly said. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH? I'M A MOTHER!?"

That was the scream Summer, new Hunter Vanguard, that rang throughout the entire Tower. It was only the first to come for changes that will forever transform the Guardians.

* * *

**Sorry this took so fucking long. Rose Dragon Empress is reaching a crucial chapters and I am starting on writing the actual lemon for Vali and Ruby. I decided to rename the title since it makes more sense that Ruby just arrived at the Tower instead. **

**For those wondering, the story actually takes place after the death of Cayde-6, and I'll explain in later chapters how and why Summer became the new Hunter Vanguard to succeed him. The premise of the story is that the Vex have developed technology to cross to other worlds to mechanize, and the Guardians secured their portal to Remnant to stop any Vex invasions. The teleporter station itself can be considered the size of a map.**

**Summer Rose**

**Class: Vanguard Hunter.**

**Sub-class: All three.**

**-Way of a Thousand Cuts**

**-Way of the Current**

**-Way of the Pathfinder**

**Weapons:**

**-Kinetic: Ace of Spades.**

**-Energy: Age-Old Bond**

**-Power: Bolt Caster**

**Up next is Chapter 4: Reunion.**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review.**


	4. Reunion

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 4: Reunion**

Summer Rose, the self-proclaimed badass Hunter in the history of the Guardians and successor of the legendary Cayde-6, was for the first time emotionally stiff. In fact, Summer had her whole body petrified on the spot and a stool was provided when she started to slump back from the extra weight leaning on her. Her face had refused to change expression from the wide-eyes staring aimlessly. The rest of her body more or less moved on autopilot with her left hand ironically caressing the back of Ruby Rose's head still crying in her shoulder.

Ruby Rose, the newest Hunter and the first Guardian that had come from the 'frontier' world as it was called. It was suspected to be a long-forgotten colony of the Golden Age when humanity was able to expand much farther than the solar system with the warp drive. The moment Summer saw the teenage Hunter, it was strange at first that the young girl was a miniature version of herself. The round cheeks and the pale skin may have been similar but they could have been coincidental. No, it was the red-tipped black hair and the sparkling silver eyes that drew her attention. Summer knew a lot of faces in the Last City and no one she met had a single one of those traits.

Then the new Hunter suddenly started to cry as soon as she saw her. That alone made Summer internally panic. By the Traveler, she didn't want to make a kid cry. She loved kids! They were bursting with such energy and spirit like a little army of Hunters. Summer already had the resolve to give a thousand apologies.

Summer wasn't expecting for her miniature self to latch onto her in a hug. Much less, she practically yelled, 'MOMMY!' As soon as Summer heard Ruby call her 'Mommy', her mind short-circuited. Her mind tried again and again to process she was called a mother, but every time would shut down and reboot and repeat. The process left her in the state Summer was in know in the Vanguard Command Center sitting on a stool while caressing the back of Ruby's head still clinging on her like a life line.

"This... can't be possible." Summer muttered. "I don't remember being a mother. I would remember that at least."

"Guardian," Summer looked to her left to find her Ghost with a blue shell named Sparky, "it's possible she came from your past life."

"Wha..." Summer responded dumbly. "But... isn't she from the Frontier. We discovered the Vex portal there only months ago. I've been here for years."

"Yet, I found you at the edge of the Reef, a place were no one should have been found." Sparky countered. "And I did a bio-scan, and it's a match. Summer, you are this Hunter's mother."

The Vanguard Hunter's face was etched into a silent scream and all the blood disappeared from her face. Sparky tried to get a reaction from his partner, but all the Ghost received no response. had officially crashed as soon as Sparky confirmed that she was an actual mother. Reboot was initialized multiple times, but the same error would incur trying to comprehend she was a mother and her supposed daughter.

Summer was unresponsive for whole minutes, not even realizing the fact Ruby had stopped crying. The teenager was content to bury her face in Summer's shoulder because she was afraid that the moment Ruby let go her mother would disappear. If this was a dream, Ruby rather be asleep for eternity. It took too long to realize Summer had become stiff like stone. She feared the worst and peaked back to look up, thankfully, to see the face of Summer.

"Mommy," It took the last of Summer's surviving motor function to glance down to the voice of her daughter, "are you okay?"

The innocence in her silver eyes and the hope in her high-pitched voice that could make anyone squeal from the cuteness. It was enough to make Summer's head go blank completely. In her last moments of consciousness, Summer was able to give Ruby a strained smile before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her whole body went limp.

All eyes in the command center watched in morbid surprise as Summer Rose, one of the strongest Guardians in recent history, fainted and fell to the floor. While most were in shock at a Guardian going unconscious, only one saw it with absolute horror.

"Guardian down!" Cried Sparky.

"MOMMY, DON'T LEAVE ME!" Ruby panicked, kneeling down to the unconscious Vanguard.

Zavala, one of the oldest Guardians and a core founder of the Last City, never imagined ever seeing a Guardian, warriors that have braved and defeated the powers of the Darkness, faint. Nor did he ever predict of such a bizarre scenario to happen, and to one of the finest Hunters he had the pleasure of witnessing in combat. His stoic facade had broken in a cringe seeing the girl named Ruby in a panic whilst holding the limp form of Summer now unconscious. The male Awoken glanced to his fellow Vanguard Ikora Rey, but his brow broke into a twitch seeing the Warlock trying her best to hold in laughter.

He then turned his steel gaze to the officers. It would seem that the awkward reunion of mother and daughter was of more interest than their occupation on their station. There were even some Guardians at the entrance way choosing to look silently at the scene of the new Hunter panicking over the fainted Summer all the while crying out, "Mommy". Zavala's tried glaring at them to get back to work, but it seemed the officers in the room chose otherwise instead of the Guardians that ran from the hills. Indeed, a more direct course of action was necessary.

"I would like to remind everyone to get back to work." Zavala announced, his voice akin to thunder and his tone made sure of his displeasure at their negligence.

It worked like a charm as the persons except Ikora broke into a nervous sweat before snapping back to their monitors. He smiled in contentment as order was brought back as it should be. Ikora on the other hand was still struggling in a fit of giggles, hiding her mouth behind her hand. The shaking of her shoulders and the muffled snickers proved otherwise of the 'success' of her struggle. Through all that, the new Hunter was still fussing over Summer.

Zavala sighed as he ran his hand down his face. "Can someone take Summer and the new Hunter to appropriate accommodations?"

Ikora was the one to step up to the task. The Warlock had taken the fainted Summer over her shoulder and spoke calming words to Ruby. Whatever Ikora said, it worked like a charm to brighten Ruby's mood. Zavala after all these centuries could never figure out how Ikora worked like that with people. Where he can intimidate people on any intolerable foolishness, the Warlock had the uncanny ability to ease people's hearts when they most needed it. But that moment as Ruby and Ikora carrying Summer walked away, Zavala was unnerved by that amused smile on the human's face.

Zavala could feel the headache that was coming up to the front his brain, and he resisted the urge to rub his forehead. If only he knew that this was the start of more chaotic tendencies to make Zavala's days in the Tower a lot more stressful.

* * *

(Later; Medical Wing)

A groan escaped the lips of Summer Rose, Vanguard of the Hunters, as she awoke back to consciousness. Her head was pounding in her head as if she had gone on a drinking spree in the night, possibly over her dear predecessor's death. Cayde-6, bless his soul, was like a father to her. She was on that very mission when the Prison of Elders was broken through only to find Cayde dying without his Ghost to revive him. It broke something in Summer, and after killing the son of a bitch to get the his gun back she fell into a deep depression. One of drinking unconscious for several nights, and it was only a mix of Ikora's council, Zavala, and a few friends to get her out.

Enduring the headache, Summer forced her eyes to open to find the face of Ikora looking down at her like the much needed angel she was to the guardians. Her smile was warm, but the Hunter could tell there was an underlying mirth to it. As if Ikora was recounting something quite humorous.

"Hey Ikora." Groaned Summer. "I got drunk again, didn't I?"

"It would _appear_ so." Ikora said, though if only Summer knew the play in those words.

"Like I must've really knocked myself out." Summer added. "I even had this dream. We were in the command center like usual until a new Hunter came up and suddenly proclaiming she was my daughter. Doesn't that sound crazy?"

"Yes it does." Ikora replied, her lips quivering to stop any laughter.

"I mean, between all the popping the heads of baddies and working in the Tower, there's no way in past, present, or future I could be a mother." Summer ranted. "It was one hell of a dream. Though, the name Ruby is quite nice."

"As entertaining as it is, I am afraid I have to disagree with you on one thing." Ikora said, getting a quizzical look from Summer. "That was not a dream."

"Eh?" Squeaked Summer, turning a few shades pale.

"And you're daughter," Ikora continued, pointing behind Summer's field of vision, "is at the end of her impulse-"

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Hollered the not-a-dream daughter that collided into Summer like a red blur with almost enough force to knock the pair of them down.

Summer's eyes dilated to orbs of white and her whole world crashed yet again registering the identity of the weight that was clinging onto her. Her neck turned in the direction with the stiffness of a rusted door to find a head of hair exactly as her own of a girl practically her miniature clone burying her face in the Vanguard's shoulder. When that head tilted up to reveal a face mirroring her own with some baby fat looking up with adorable innocence in those same silver eyes Summer could hear the hammering of her heart in her head.

"Hi, Mom." Chirped Ruby as though it was the most normal to say such a thing.

Already, Summer could feel her head becoming lightheaded as she inched closer to the point of fainting yet again. It was only her memory of earlier events and Sparky's confirmation that kept her awake, but it still was so incredibly inconceivable. She needed some sort of medium to keep her brain stable, maybe a bottle of whisky or some time out of the Tower.

_'She can't be my daughter.' _Summer thought in denial, wanting nothing more than to crawl in a hole to hide. _'I-I can't be a mother! Th-There's no way I can be one. This has to be a mistake.'_

_'I wouldn't be so sure of that, Summer.'_ The voice of her Ghost, Sparky, hummed in her head. _'My analysis isn't wrong. On all accounts, Ruby is your daughter, Summer. Whether you accept it or not, genetics don't lie, and I don't necessarily need to do a bio-scan. She's a practical carbon copy of you.'_

_'What are you trying to say, Sparky?' _Summer said. _'All I've known in this life is shooting baddies and keeping the people safe. How can I do that and be a mother?'_

_'I don't think that is a good enough excuse, and you know it.'_ Sparky admonished. _'Look at her, and tell me she doesn't deserve a chance.'_

In the end, Summer decided to take Sparky's advice as she always did when she herself wasn't sure. The Vanguard of the Hunters looked at the teenager clinging to her like a lifeline; truly looking at her. She examined the jawline that was the basis for that perfect smile on Ruby's face, the porcelain skin dusted in bright pink, and the black hair that looked to have been dipped in blood. But her studious gaze locked on the pair of silver eyes both Roses shared. Those orbs of silver chips as brilliant as the Light of the Traveler held so much childish innocence that shouldn't belong in a Guardian who spend their existence fighting, dying, resurrecting, and repeat. Yet, Summer looked deeper and to her surprise to find an uncanny determination more fearsome than the mightiest hammers of the Sunbreakers. It was that very detail that told Summer a whole tale of Ruby why the Traveler chose her to become a Guardian for what she may lack in strength or experience wise was a rare kind of spirit that endures for eternity.

That realization followed a rather odd sense swelling in Summer's heart that she couldn't explain, but she could only feel incredibly proud. The cause of such emotion can only come from an instinctual level of a mother to her daughter, or in simpler words the pride of a parent in the child. Ruby had the same spirit to endure that even some Guardians can't match. The same kind of fiery, yet iron spirit they both shared. In that moment, Summer could not deny it any longer that Ruby was her own flesh and blood; if her memories failed her, her emotions didn't and they called out for the teenager clinging to her.

_'She's so like me, I have to dumb to say she's not my daughter.' _Thought Summer, unconsciously wrapping her arms around Ruby to deepen the hug.

"Ruby, right?" Summer said, if a bit hesitantly. "Are... Are you sure I'm your mother?"

"You have to be." Ruby proclaimed, tightening the hug a bit too much. "There's no doubt in my mind. You're my awesome, butt-kicking mom."

_'Butt-kicking Mom!?' _Thought Summer. _'I was a fighter in my last life. Huh, I do sound awesome. Maybe... Maybe this can work out, but damn does she have to hug that hard?'_

_'Ruby seems to have the same inclination to go overboard.'_ Sparky noted, reminiscing their adventures that usually involved Summer almost killing the both of them with crackpot plans she comes up with.

"But I don't know how to be a mom." Summer whined in a dramatic tone. "I mean, this is just too much. All I knew was shooting bad guys and give out missions to Hunters. What does a mom even do?"

"I can help you." Ruby exclaimed excitedly. "I'll make you the best mom ever like you always were. Just you wait!"

Summer realized one other thing in that moment. If one to ignore the fact that she was a Guardian and put aside the strange doubt of being a mother, Ruby was so, so cute. So cute in fact all of Summer's doubts were washed away and a grin spread across her face. Despite her apparent age in the mid 20s, her mentality wasn't that far off from a fifteen year old herself in some cases.

"EEEEE!" Squealed Summer as she reached her arms around to pinch Ruby's cheeks. "You are so cute it's a crime. Is that why the Traveler made you a Guardian so you can look like this forever?"

"Mwmmie pweze shtop." Whined Ruby, but the look in her eyes told she more than loved the affection from Summer.

Ikora watched the whole scene of Summer playing with Ruby's face while the latter put up a half-hearted resistance with a ghost of a smile on her face. It was like all that tension simply did not exist before, acting as though they have known each other as mother and daughter for years. She could not hold it in any longer. The cute and heart-touching scene crumbled down centuries of emotional control and left Ikora in a fit of giggles. Those giggles then turned into amused laughter, loud enough to break the Rose duo out of their trance and direct their attention to the Vanguard of the Warlock.

"I'm - ha-ha-ha-ha - I'm sorry." Ikora laughed, trying to calm herself down. "It's just - you two really act like mother and daughter. Oh my, it's been centuries since I've laughed this much."

"If we can get you to laugh," Summer said, leveling a mischievous smile towards Ruby that mirrored her mother, "maybe we can get Zavala to smile."

"I am almost afraid you could do that." Ikora replied with a smile.

"So tell me, Ruby." Summer asked the teenage Hunter. "How awesome of a mom was I?"

"The best!" Ruby proclaimed. "You baked the best cookies and can kill Grimm real good at the same time. You inspired me to become the best Huntress in Remnant just like you were."

"I can get the last part." Summer said with bravado. "But as I've learned I can't cook to save my life, so there won't be any cookies anytime soon. So what's all this about being Huntress?"

"Basically killing monsters with a cool weapon and moves to kick butt." Ruby said, making childish imitations of karate chops. "And I'm all like 'wha-cha' and 'pow-wa' and the Grimm are all like 'oh please no, butt-kicking Ruby'. And I have my baby to thank for it."

Ruby reluctantly broke from the hug with Summer and reached behind her back to pull out the folded Crescent Rose, which Summer looked with a gleam in her eyes recognizing the general shape as a sniper rifle. Her eyes widened in awe as with a press of a button Crescent Rose unfolded even more to reveal its scythe form. The younger Rose giggled seeing the gobsmacked looks on the two Vanguard, and a mental command to Pine saved a picture of it.

"Is that a scythe?" Summer gasped, pointing a shaky finger at the contraption.

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle." Ruby added with flare.

"What?" Ikora said.

"It's also a gun." Ruby confirmed, cocking Crescent Rose with a satisfactory click.

"A gun... that's also a blade." Mumbled Summer, whose head was ducked down with her hair shadowing her features.

Suddenly, Ruby felt Summer's hands tightly grip on her shoulders, forcing the girl in place. She looked forward to her mother, only to slightly cower at the gaze being leveled upon her. Summer's eye bore into Ruby's skull like drills and were twitching from barely contained insanity. For a moment, Ruby thought she was being stared down by a hungry wolf instead of her mother.

"That - is - so - awesome!" Exclaimed Summer, lifting the girl up and twirling her around before settling her back down. "A gun that can shift into a blade! That is so freaking badass! I want one!"

The almost euphoric smile on Summer's face on the topic of weapons responded to Ruby's own interests. The girl of the red hood and scythe could not stop her own smile to return. For once in her life, she finally had someone to talk about weapons, the coolest things in the world. Ikora, on the other hand, had thoughts that were less pleasant.

_'PerhapsZavala may have an aneurysm before he smiles.' _Ikora thought as she watched Summer and Ruby mumble maniacally about weapons.

The Tower was never going to the same, or sane for that matter.

* * *

**Is anyone going to talk about just how terrible the Rise of Skywalker was? I just saw it, and I have frowned all day. My disappointment is more numerous than the wrinkles on Palpatine's face (and don't get me started on that shit-fest). This is why fanfiction exists, in some context, so some of us can write a version of the story that isn't screwed in the ass by poor writers. I can understand J. J. Abrams tried his best, but it was like everyone else was a clonetrooper and pulled a 66 on him. The people in charge of this absolutely tarnished the franchise, and the only thing to save it in my opinion is to make an Old Republic movie about Revan.**

**On a side note, here are some new story ideas that I want an opinion on.**

**Reaper Devil Queen, a RWBY and Highschool DxD crossover.**

**Summary: I was alone, taken from my home by the power of the Dark Longinus I was born with to a new world of unimaginable horror, like a deer in a middle of a wolf pack. But Azazel and Vali, they saved me from all that. They made me, the prey, into a predator in this harsh world of the strong over the weak. There, I found my strength and my love. My power earned me names in this world of gods and devils. Red Reaper. Dark Slayer. The holder of the Dark Longinus. Will of Satan. But to myself, I am Ruby Lucifer, wife to the White Dragon Emperor, and Queen of the Lucifer Clan. And soon, I shall return to my world of souls and Dust. Pairing: Morning Rose (RubyxVali). Devil Trigger/Dark Longinus/Yamato/Powerful Ruby. Dark! Ruby. Rated M.**

**For those of you wondering, the Dark Longinus is my take on a new Longinus that is even with the True Longinus, being that the Dark Longinus is demonic sword. Her subspecies is a black scythe based from the one Death uses from Darksiders.**

**Steel Revan, a Fate/stay night and Star Wars crossover.**

**Summary: When EMIYA dies saving his younger self, it is not the Throne of Heroes but rather to Root itself. But apparently it also goes by another name in another world - the Force, and there he finds a ghost spirit. A bastard in EMIYA's case that immediately sends him to a whole new galaxy 'hoping' for him to save it, given a body of flesh from Revan and armed with two lightsabers of black and white. Honestly, EMIYA wished for a break, but the call of hero was still strong in him. EMIYAxAayla. Bit of a crack-fic. Rating pending.**

**Up next is Chapter 5.**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review.**


	5. Crescent Rose Mk II

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 5: Crescent Rose Mk. II**

The past two months in the Tower have been hectic to say the least. At most, it was pure chaos, and the source all came from the new infamous Rose duo. Ever since mother and daughter reunited, it led to madness that the Tower had never experienced. It was as bad as the Festival of the Lost where Summer had somehow made Ikora lose her shit by dressing her in a rather illicit witch's outfit. Or that time during Christmas when Summer somehow sent down an avalanche that buried the farm in three meters of snow to become, in her words, the ultimate snowball champion.

That chaos that plagued the Tower and testing Zavala's patience was Summer's personal training of her little Ruby as she called it. By training, it meant sending Ruby on stealth missions to pull pranks on everyone in the Tower. It first started on the Titan Vanguard by getting his armor drenched in bright pink in front of everyone to see. His only indication that it was Ruby were the nearby rose petals of her sprint away from the scene, but he couldn't bring up accusations on such loose evidence - that disappeared in a few seconds!

Then there was the incident that was downright nauseating to think of how it was pulled off. Somehow, Ruby managed to get her hands on every Guardian's weapons before a crucible match. Instead of bullets and energized blast of destruction, they fired out bursts of confetti. No one had ever seen Shax so livid at that point that he almost gripped his remaining horn hard enough to break it off. No one noticed the smug smile on Banshee's face nor the Exo and Ruby doing a fist bump.

Despite all that, there was clearly a significant improvement in Ruby Rose. In short, the new Hunter had taken the life of a Guardian like fish to water. On an expedition Mars, with an experienced Hunter to evaluate and protect via Summer's orders, she had razed hell. Her signature weapon was useless at that point and had reluctantly chosen to substitute with a Power-type sniper. That didn't deter her skill of a deadly shot picking off the heads of Cabal and Vex wherever she went with a scout rifle. She was more than fit for active duty as a Guardian, a fact that made Summer all the more giddy for her daughter.

Only one aspect that Summer went bonkers when Zavala issued her a Vanguard mission to assassinate a Cabal official. Calling her angry was an understatement as Summer was seconds away from killing Zavala over and over again with the Ace of Spades for putting her 'baby Ruby' in danger. It was only Ruby's own assurances of her safety that allowed her to go, but it reminded the Tower just why Summer was reputed as one of the most powerful Guardians of the Last City.

The mission report however proved very strange to say. At some point on the mission, Ruby had gone off on her own shooting through ranks of Cabal on the promise that she had a plan. Her fellow Guardians on that mission didn't complain as they weren't pushovers. However, it was when they were fighting the Cabal leader did Ruby's plan come to fruition. That mission was put down as the fastest completion of a Vanguard-level through the use of hijacking a Cabal ship and crashing it on top of the target. Ruby technically did not survive the crash with her Ghost reviving her later. Case in point, the stunt alone made the rest of the party award Ruby for, quoting by the Titan on the mission: "The giant balls of titanium she had with nuts for brains."

Ruby Rose truly lived up to the ways of the Hunter. Her plans were chaotic, crazy at best that left destruction in her wake. Then there is the fact Ruby held such potent Light that her Supercharged state came up faster than any average Guardian. She had a good grasp on weapons, her use of Solar Light was astounding, and Summer had just started teaching her to use Arc Light seeing how Ruby was too good with a polearm if her ownership of Crescent Rose was any indication.

Possibly the biggest impact Ruby has on the Tower was her friendship with the local gunsmith, Banshee, and in turn the knowledge of her craft from Remnant. The Exo brought Ruby under his wing as an apprentice gunsmith of sorts, and in a week was producing a new generation of weapons for Guardians. They had become quickly popular in less than a day because of one function: they could mecha-shift into a melee weapon. This mechanism provided a huge boost in versatility for Guardians out on the field. These weapons took the standard weapons and outfitted with either a blunt and sharp weapon to transform into, such as an assault rifle turning into a short sword without any Light to power it. Of course, there were some incidents of the mecha-shift killing the wielders when they weren't careful, and both Banshee and Ruby had the guns sold at very high prices (for good reasons).

Ikora herself admitted her likeness to the new weaponry when she purchased a fusion rifle capable of transforming into a polearm. One trip to the EDZ later and the Tower received a very satisfied Vanguard of the Warlock that loved her new weapon. Zavala choked up eventually buying himself a grenade launcher that turned into a hammer, a design Ruby made herself based off her friend Nora.

That brings to the now where Ikora is in the lower levels of the Tower for a morning cup of coffee. Its not that much spoken of, but the Tower's main purpose was to house every Guardian with an apartment for their own. However, Guardians are more carefree as they use their own ships for rest. Only the Vanguard and a select few own permanent room in the Tower, which are luxurious to today's standards.

She was actually on the singular floor that was renovated into a whole, single floor home for one of her finest Warlocks. One who took a habit of cooking food of all things and had an open kitchen for everyone to visit. Even now, Ikora watched from one of the few chairs, staring at the back of a head of red hair currently busy at cutting onions with perfect ease. From what she could see now, the Warlock wore a red cloak with a armband of metal embedded with gems crafted from a certain friend. She smiled, knowing that in front he was wearing an apron like any good cook would.

Turning around to manage the stove near the window revealed the face of man in his twenties with a lean face, strong jaw, tanned skin, and golden eyes that shined like steel. There was the apron he had on with the words of, "I am the Bone of my Skillet", displayed in bold red letters for all to see. Underneath was black armor made for the more sturdy wardens that find themselves in the thick of battles. Unusual, but then again almost everything about this Warlock was very unusual. Including the fact he was one of the few who remembered his last life as a man named Shirou Emiya.

"Here you go, Ikora." Spoke Shirou, his voice strong and his smile so perfect it would make lesser woman swoon. "Scrambled eggs mixed with feta cheese."

No one would believe the speed Ikora moved that rivaled Hunters towards the counter. A purple blur crossed the room to the counter and ebony hands grabbed firmly on plate and spoon. Ikora did not bother sitting back down to her spot, scarfing down the breakfast. The pleased smile on the Vanguard's face asked the unspoken question of how could this man before her make something as simple as feta cheese and eggs taste so heavenly. This food was delicious enough to end wars in diplomacy as long as everyone had a supply of cooked masterpieces, but unfortunately the Warlock was simply one immortal man in the Last City.

Too short of time did Ikora's plate was empty of food. The ancient Warlock had to hold back a small whine from the heaven that danced on her taste buds, and this was barely a scratch on the Shirou's god-like skill in the kitchen from savory cuisines to sweet bakery whenever he was in the mood. It was a miracle Shirou's fame in baking did not reach Ruby's ears if the girls antics were anything like her mother's. Shirou would be doomed under the demands of two cookie addicts.

"I've heard of interesting rumors going around the Tower lately all surrounding a new recruit." Shirou said with interest.

If it were anyone else, Ikora would have accused them of being deaf and having lived in a cave somewhere as it was the only possible way that a Guardian would not hear about Summer's revealed progeny. For Shirou, it was understandable as he spent most of his time in the field doing the best he can to help people all around him, whether it be the citizens of the Last City by gathering supplies or assisting Guardians. More than once Ikora received reports of Shirou's actions, which made a Hunter blush on how suicidal he was in putting his life constantly on the line for the betterment of those around him. It was a commendable aspect of Shirou, but his altruism was too extreme.

"Oh, and what have you heard?" Ikora said.

"That she is, unbelievably, Summer's daughter of all things for one." Shirou replied. "Then there's talk of how this new Hunter is an expert in crafting a new generation of weapons."

"I can confirm there are true." Ikora said with a smile. "She's a rising star in the Tower, especially with the girl incorporating a new design to our weapons development that will change the face of battle as we know it."

"Really?" Shirou wondered with a raised brow. "What sort of new weaponry has the new girl been giving out to everyone?"

"Mecha-shift as Ruby calls it." Ikora answered. "It will negate the need to carry any melee weapon by granting several weapon models with the ability to shift into one instead. Imagine assault rifles turning into swords, or grenade launchers turning into hammers. Those are the new toys we shall have out in the field."

For a whole minute, all of Shirou's motions stopped, his face etched with no small amount of surprise. His golden eyes had a faraway gaze to them, and there was just a hint of an excited gleam to them. Ikora raised an eyebrow in curiosity, remembering that Shirou for a Warlock much preferred close-ranged weaponry. In fact, Shirou was the greatest melee combatant in the entire order of the Guardians.

"That is certainly... unusual." Shirou said after his long silence of trying to find the right words.

"And a Warlock who exclusively uses a sword and bow isn't?" Ikora retorted.

"I am not the usual Warlock, or Guardian for that matter." Shirou said, who was starting on cleaning his kitchen ware.

"That, excellent cooking skills, and such a large heart to help everyone around you." Ikora added. "I find that more relaxing about you more than your friend."

"Don't tell Rin that." Warned Shirou, shivering a bit in fear. "It'll be the end of the Last City with a jealous Rin."

"Oh come now, don't be so dramatic." Ikora waved off. "She just likes attention. Your attention for that matter."

"You have no idea of the horror." Muttered Shirou.

His gaze went aimless looking back at distant memories of a last life. Specifically involving chains snatching onto his limbs or being blasted by jewels going as fast as bullets. All whenever Rin was displeased and her ways of venting bordered on a fetish that was not healthy for Shirou's health. The fear Rin can put out would be enough to unease gods. It got worse since Rin became a Warlock like himself, and worse that she had to become a prodigy as a Voidwalker. Meaning everything around her can go boom with a flick of her wrist. What joy.

_'I don't whether to be thankful or loathe that I can't die anymore.' _Thought Shirou.

_'It is a matter of perspective.'_ Replied Shirou's Ghost, which the Dawnblade went to call him Arthur.

_'You are not the one who is feeling pain.' _Shirou mentally barked.

"Always a pleasure to speak with you, Shirou." Ikora concluded, handing back an empty mug of caffeine. "I strongly suggest you come up to the top floor to meet the new Hunter and the effect she is having on everyone. I'd think the two of you can be good friends."

Shirou smiled back at the Vanguard. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You do that." Ikora said. "Oh, and I don't need to remind you to prepare Luvia's favorite for the morning."

Ikora left with those words too soon for Shirou to make a rebuttal. His hand almost made the mug in his hands slip when she said that tidbit. He hadn't even begun on the French breakfast yet, and Luvia was such a person to not get on her bad side. If Rin was such a person to deal pain through cosmic power as a Warlock, then Luvia was the direct opposite dishing out damage through pure strength as a Titan.

An exasperated sigh left Shirou's lips as he quickly began the meticulous task of preparing Luvia's meal that she praised him so much for. Why did his life have to be surrounded by dangerous women?

* * *

(Top Floor/Main Plaza)

If any Guardian wishing to buy a weapon, trade parts for a Legendary Engrams, or hand in a report of weapon testing diagnostics in the field for good rewards, all of them would be harshly turned down that day. Many Guardians of the craft came to the shop as usual either professionally or uniquely eccentric, but left with heavy walks like kicked puppies. All the good loot and working in the field was denied so thoroughly one Guardian ran off crying. It comes down to the most impossible thing no one in the Tower ever saw coming for the centuries it has stood tall in defense of the Last City.

Banshee's shop was closed!

"Can't I just get my Engram please?" A male Titan Guardian meekly pleaded, bordering on desperation. "I-I got the parts right here. Please, Banshee, I spent so much time getting the parts and this is my chance-"

"And I repeat, can you go fuck off!?" Banshee roared like a revving engine, the servos of his knuckles digging into the table. "If you look with your eyes, you can see my respected establishment is currently closed. As in not in service right now."

"But," The Guardian mumbled, "you never close."

"So what!?" Exclaimed Banshee. "Just because I'm an Exo doesn't mean I can't have a break from the insanity that constantly stands in front of my shop for my weapons to unleash on our enemies?! Right now, I have more pressing matters to attend to back there."

"What could be more important that you have to close?" The Titan wondered sadly.

"I'm doing the work of geniuses, that's what." Snapped Banshee, a crazy gleam in his robotic eyes. "You cannot comprehend the majesty that is being very carefully put together back there, and I for one will see the masterpiece through to the end."

Both Exo and Titan went stiff when the sounds of exploding machinery and thuds of metal pieces followed by an indignant, yet femine squawk of alarm. The curious Guardian titled his head to the side beside Banshee to get a peek of what was happening on the other side. In the dark of Banshee's shop there was a glow emanating from a room in the back that was also producing an alarming amount of smoke. Banshee glanced behind as well, only with concern instead of curiosity.

"Uh, Banshee, something popped out of the converter and its starting to melt." The voice that belonged to the only Ruby Rose called from the back. "I need that dampener piping right now or else my baby is going to go boom!"

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Banshee swore, his eyes darting frantically. "Look, Guardian, there's something _really _important at work back there. I suggest you scram because you keep me up here we can consider half the Tower bye-bye."

The Titan didn't get the chance to speak when a red inferno blasted out the door. Banshee let off another wave of curses and rushed into the back of the shop, completely forgetting the stubborn Titan. Banshee disappeared into the inferno that soon calmed down into billowing black smoke.

The Titan dared not trespass into Banshee's gun shop; he liked his balls not blown to pieces by a shotgun, and all he had going for him were the sounds in the back. There was frantic chatter and the clatter of tools falling on the ground, indicating that Banshee and Ruby were working at 110% at some sort of project the weapon nut duo were going crazy over. It was well known among the denizens of the Tower that the Hunter known as Ruby Rose, inducted a couple of months ago, had formed a close friendship with the Exo gunsmith based on the love of weaponry. Guardians all around gave silent praise to Ruby implementing whole new designs for their weapons that put a smile on Zavala's face. She became a celebrity among the Guardians with her rising fame in transforming their armory for a whole field of possibilities, and many were awed by how potent her Light was just from feeling her power at close proximity.

"My baby is having a fever."

"Stock is burning up."

"Get the coolant in."

"Chasis at the grip looks off."

"Adjust it by 3 degrees to the left. I need the mecha-shift to be smooth."

"GA alloy holding up. Barrel's rigid and straight."

"Is the infuser lined in properly in the clutch?"

"Triple checked it by every minute."

"Stock looks good, and the blade is nicely snug. I think it's time to give my baby a little boost with the Light Cycler."

"This is some pretty hefty tech. Already, I can say this is Epic-class, possibly the most powerful piece I have ever seen."

"Then let's work the magic."

There was the sound of a blaze and the welding of two constructs together. A series of clicks followed of revolving metal, and all was eerily silent. A small figure stepped out, wearing a huge metal mask used to protect against open flames and sparks while holding a large black bundle. Her right gloved hand went to the mask, revealing the face of Ruby dirty with ash and grime from proud work.

"My baby is finally complete." Ruby announced as she unraveled the majesty in her hands.

Both the Titan and Banshee hitched their breaths at what unveiled from the cloth. Such pristine met their eyes that it seemed to possess the glow of the heavens. In Ruby's hands was a rather large sniper rifle with a red and black paint job reminiscent of panels with lines of circuitry. The metal plating on it was much more smoother, and the lines were barely noticeable to distinguish each piece of metal on the stock. The butt of the rifle was a solid square shape from the previous design and the trigger was rested a third away from the back with a magazine-fed chamber in front. No scope was on the rifle, but when Ruby leaned to look down sights a holographic projection of sniper scope answered her needs.

The most prominent changes in the design was a part of the blade, specifically the length of the back, was shown at the end of the stock of the rifle in front of an angled grip. Above that was the barrel of the sniper rifle going almost two feet in length. It was considerable much thicker than the usual sniper barrel by two inches and was in a sharp cut of a rectangle. At the base of the barrel was a switch to cycle the ammo into Void or Arc Light.

With a press of the button, the plates of the stock shifted seamlessly like water into the signature scythe of Crescent Rose. There were very noticeable differences, including that the 'shaft' of the huge scythe was much more sleek than bulky in appearance. The gigantic blade of Crescent Rose hummed and glowed with Light ready to be unleashed on her enemies the moment she swung it.

All the while, Ruby stared at her renewed masterpiece with a shit-eating grin. "LOOK OUT WORLD BECAUSE THERE'S A NEW AND IMPROVED CRESCENT ROSE!"

* * *

**Yes, that was Shirou Emiya, and he is (un)fortunately stuck with Luvia and Rin in his new life as a Guardian. They are more like pseudo-cameo characters because they will be featured in the story. I honestly wanted to add Shirou because of his quirk of cooking and the fact both Ruby and Summer will hound him to make cookies.**

**Here's a quick rundown of their abilities. Shirou is mainly a Dawnblade as a Warlock given his aptitude for swords. Rin is also a Warlock as a Voidwalker given her explosive temper. Luvia is a Striker to compliment her likeness of close-combat.**

**Up next is Chapter 6: The Conqueror**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review. They show you love this story.**


	6. The Conqueror

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 6: The Conqueror**

(Five Months After Fall of Beacon; Atlas)

It has been five months since the Fall of Beacon. Five months since lives and friendships were shattered to pieces. Five months since rising star students of Beacon academy had their dreams crushed and their careers almost in jeopardy. To one Weiss Schnee, such hardships were nothing to what happened to her on that day. On that day, Weiss had lost something far more precious than the fortune of the Schnee or her academics at Beacon. She lost her partner and best friend, Ruby Rose. A girl, no, a young woman that Weiss at first thought was foolish and naive, but grew on her to be a compassionate, kind, and bright individual that Weiss deeply cherished. Ruby was the type of person that brought the best out of Weiss. She lit up her whole world to more warmth and friendship than she could ever find in her own homeland. And today should have been spent celebrating Ruby's seventeenth birthday. So why?! Why did she have to go!?

_'She didn't deserve to die.'_

That single sentence plagued her for what felt like eternity. The last Weiss ever saw of her dear partner was her scaling up the tower to help Pyrrha. On some level, Weiss felt it was her fault Ruby was dead for helping get up there, but she knew better Ruby was never a person to stay put. Everything around her felt so numb in comparison. She barely registered physical contact, and Weiss had refused to speak a word on her way back to Atlas. Those around her took her silence as shock to her 'traumatic' experience. They had no idea of the real damage that had been done to Weiss.

It was a gradual change that no one outside of the Schnee manor noticed. Over the course of weeks, Weiss looked as if the light of life was waning from her body. She had a more pale complexion to reflect the frigid persona she put on. She never smiled or laughed, and they were brief flashes of intense anger that unnerved her father, Jacques Schnee. Even Winter, the only member of Weiss' family that the heiress had a bond to, was brushed off by this new Weiss, and it scared the elder daughter of the family to see her little sister like this. Whitley, in his most wisest of decisions, decided to poke fun at Weiss for going to a 'failure of an academy'. The day after that they found Whitley locked his own room shivering in fear, but without a speck of harm on his body.

Her very Semblance mirrored her change. The glyphs that Weiss summoned that were once a stark white were now a pitch black that dimmed all light around. She had mastered summoning aspect of her Semblance, but the fact that her avatar was more of a vicious warlord from a dark land instead of a proud knight sent more alarms than celebrations. It certainly proved that Weiss' summon was merciless in combat channeling the hate and revenge that was left in Weiss' spirit.

Weiss has only been getting darker as the days go by to point her very presence projected fear into the hearts of people. Her once bright blue eyes were a pale ice colder than her mother's. There was no love nor compassion left in her heart, only a stark hate and a need to take vengeance for Ruby. Not just on the people responsible for the Fall of Beacon, but on people who look down on the people of Vale. She would kill all in Ruby's memory because such people who acted in their greed and ignorant of the suffering of others did not deserve to live on the same planet that was her partner's home. They did not deserve to breathe the same air.

Right now, Weiss was having issues bottling down her wrath in this complete farse of a fundraiser for the residents of Vale. Earlier, Weiss was forced to sing for an audience of _putrid, asinine worms _to appease her father. That had already costed most of her self-control to not lash out at these _entitled mongrels _that had no interest in the actual purpose of the fundraiser to help people. All these _shit-filled snakes_, like her father, cared for was money.

She drowned out the chatter of the crowd and ignored the _pathetic _glare of her father. Weiss no longer cared for whatever Jacques can do. At the end of the day, she had the power to make him rot in hell no matter the consequences. The strain was showing itself as cracks appeared on the glass in her grip. There wasn't even any worth pretending to enjoy the paintings of the fundraiser, and one particular 'work of art' annoyed her to no end when some snobby artists tried to goad her in buying it. One glare later from her that showed how much she wanted to tear the snob apart sent him out of the party.

All was quiet for a moment for Weiss, and despite her personal wishes her eyes strayed to the painting. It was a grand piece of the palace that was Beacon academy. The place where she found the best of friends and discovered herself as a person. A place of good days that will never return because Ruby is gone!

Lost in her thoughts, Weiss was drowned in the chatter of the party. Her temper was nearing its breaking point, bringing this strong urge to make someone suffer. At that moment, a trophy wife in the background had too much drink and decided to voice very dangerous words.

"But really does it come as any surprise what happened in Vale?" She said. "It was a long time coming if you ask me."

"Honey..." Her husband tried to stop her wife's drunken rant.

"What?" Said the _slut, whore, hag_, continuing with her rant. "You said the same thing last night. If they're so arrogant to believe they can get by without proper kingdom defense, then I say good riddance!"

"Mind repeating that?" Hissed Weiss, standing right in front of the woman.

The trophy wife jumped in surprise, not having heard Weiss walk up to her. "W-Well, what I... mean..."

The woman could not continue frozen in fear at the look of absolute murder glowing in Weiss' dead blue eyes. Normally, Weiss would have screamed to make this _mongrel of a slut _shut up for speaking bad about Vale. She had not only insulted the innocent lives ruined in the Fall of Beacon, but this _mongrel _had the audacity to insult her best friends.

She insulted Ruby! That was unacceptable, and Weiss was going to make this woman beg for her mercy!

"You mean what, whore?" Weiss said barely above a whisper. "You mean you didn't just insult the people of Vale? That you didn't ridicule for the lives of my friends that were ruined? That you didn't just insult my best friend who died?"

The woman fidgeted on the spot. "I-I-I..."

"Well, then if what you say is _so _important, then let's have everyone listen to you!" Weiss said in a raised voice, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

"Weiss." Hissed Jacques, going for his daughter's arm. "You are embarrassing the family."

"You're an embarrassment." Weiss seethed.

Jacques eyes flashed in rage. "Wha-"

Jacques didn't get to finish his sentence before a massive hand wreathed in black metal bitch slapped him across the face with enough force to send him into the wall. On impact, the head of the Schnee Dust Company was unconscious, but the room's attention was towards the towering _monster _that had been summoned from a summoning glyph colored pitch black. The summoned avatar was more refined than last time with a noticeably height difference. Its black metal looked more real than how it should be and red eyes glared from within a crowned black helm projecting the hatred festering from Weiss' soul. Its tattered cape was so dark the light was visibly dimming in its presence as if the being Weiss summoned hungered for the light.

This monstrosity born from Weiss' hatred was at her full command, and with a mental note it moved upon the woman. The trophy wife had no time to move as it grabbed waist in one hand, the artificial metal digging into her sides from the tight grip. She screamed in utter terror feeling the hate of those red orbs glaring at her from the avatar.

"Go on!" Weiss demanded. "Tell them what you think of Vale? Tell them how you think the tragic loss of life was a 'service' to their so-called arrogance? Tell them how you believe the death of innocent men, women, children, and my best friend was deserved, you pathetic whore!?"

That moment, the new Weiss had broken through and revealed to everyone a young woman scorned and full of hatred. A woman that would kill without a second thought when it came to her friends. This was a woman drowned in the darkness of revenge and a soul gone cold.

"Stop!" Begged the woman. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Yet, the begging of the woman served to bring a terrifying result from Weiss: a smile. It was no smile of kindness, but one born from cruelty and sadistic pleasure. It was the first time that Weiss had ever smiled, but it was the worst to have ever happened in that moment. She was enjoying having this mongrel's life in her hands and seeing her beg for it back.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Weiss mocked. "Where was all that bravado and confidence when you were saying that the people in Vale deserved to die? I find it funny how all that was crushed into despair and how you want to appeal to me."

"Please have mercy." The woman begged.

Weiss smile widened. "There is **no **mercy."

Weiss would have done it. She would have truly have commanded her avatar to smash this mongrel into the ground till she was a red paste on the floor. The whore didn't deserve to live after all for insulting Ruby like that. A person like her deserved to die.

It would have happened if a loud bang of a revolver shot off followed by a bullet tilting the back of her avatar's head. Both she and the giant dark 'knight' trailed the trajectory of the bullet to the one and only General James Ironwood. The stress of maintaining peace in Atlas was making itself known on the General as his once pristine look was a mess of growing facial hair and unkempt hair.

"That is enough, Weiss." Ironwood said sternly, holstering away his revolver. "The woman has learned her lesson."

_'It wasn't enough for me.' _Weiss thought darkly.

However, she knew that Weiss couldn't further escalate the situation, and grudgingly released her hold on the avatar. The woman was dropped back to the floor with a crack of a sprained joint. Her husband came to her side to assist her up and out of the room. When she tried to glare at Weiss, the Schnee rebutted with a deathly look that crumbled the trophy wife into a shivering wreck.

"Weiss..." A voice growled, and Weiss glanced back to find her father awake while holding his limp right arm. "We will have words. This will never happen again!"

_'I know it will.' _Thought Weiss, coming to a complete resolve. _'I'm tired of being imprisoned in these walls of fake love and kindness.'_

For all this supposed brightness and goodness that was supposed to be light, it was more akin to blinding people from the truth and making them ignorant. They all lived in their own little worlds, uncaring of who is killed or suffers. But she has seen such horrors before, and it sickened her of the society that she grew up. But Weiss knew how to make them see their faults, to make them cry in despair of the truth. If the light will not free her, then Weiss will go to the darkness.

After the Fall of Beacon, she had been having these strange voices in her head whispering sweet promises. They spoke of how the light that was her life was a lie. How this light will only bring her hardship and unwanted suffering, and that the darkness will set her free from this deceit. At first, Weiss thought it was herself being delusional, but the voices only got stronger the darker she became. She only started listening to those voices when they promised to bring back Ruby, and she had accepted when she saw flashes of reuniting with her best friend again.

Until recently, Weiss had this strange dream. She was surrounded in darkness, but somehow could see clearly the scene around her. She was fully naked standing in a black pool. Humongous figures stared down at her with faces of over five glowing eyes as if judging her, and their bodies were covered in armor similar to the carapaces of a bug. There was no light in that world, but for some reason Weiss didn't mind and through that these being found her worthy. When she woke up, it was to find a dagger of crude make painted pitch black, and with it came their words.

_'Let this blade feed on thy soul, and you shall be granted the power to grant your desires.'_

Weiss knew exactly who to use the dagger on. First, she needed to sit through her father's rambling.

* * *

(Later)

Weiss watched her fath- this worm's pacing with a bored expression as he ranted on. His words was more useless than trash. The whole man that spouting nonsense was trash and every so-called achievement was only possible because he had married into the Schnee family. Trash such as this entitled mongrel needs to be thrown out.

"You idiotic child." Bellowed Jacques, wanting to strangle Weiss by the look in his eyes. "Do you have any idea the stunt you pulled threatening a high-standing citizen? Even more so, attacking your own father?!"

Weiss inwardly scoffed at Jacques' callousness. It was terribly predictable how he indirectly made himself more important than the trophy wife that almost got killed. All that happened to him was a broken shoulder.

"Why should that be a problem?" Weiss replied nonchalantly, shocking Jacques. "No one complains when someone swats a fly."

Jacques' features froze to stone, but Weiss could feel the erupting anger. "Did you just... compare me... to a fly!?"

"Oh please, calling you a fly is too good for you." Weiss admonished, the light in the room dimming as she projected her Aura. "You are the closest to the dirt that is staining on the Schnee family. You should have been washed away long ago so you wouldn't have ruined _my _family's reputation!"

"How dare you!" Snapped Jacques, losing to his temper. "You wouldn't be here without me, you little bitch! If I wanted to, I would have thrown you out to the streets! I probably should have since you are so inclined to drive my reputation into the mud!"

"You seem to be doing that just perfectly, Jacques." Weiss retorted, her voice hissing with venom and rising from her seat. "I have spent my whole life practically fixing what you ruined to my family. You are nothing but a parasite leeching off the Schnee family. You are nothing but a deplorable mongrel!"

A vein popped in Jacques' forehead, and in that moment he had resolved to do more than just slap this 'upstart' for speaking out against him. His hand was already in motion to deliver a blow to his own daughter hard enough to bring her to the ground. If he wasn't so angry, Jacques should have realized that Weiss had training as a huntress and his supposed blow was in slow-motion to Weiss. His fist never made contact as Jacques found himself being crushed in the grip of a giant black hand. Behind Jacques was a spinning pitch black glyph that summoned one of the arms of Weiss' avatar holding the head of the Schnee family in place.

"Let me go!" Jacques roared. "I am your father, and you will do as I demand!"

"That's where you're wrong, mongrel." Weiss drawled, walking up to Jacques. "By the very definition, you were never my father. No, the best you were was a glorified sperm donor without the Schnee family. You were never worthy of the right to _my _family's estate, and your actions have caused the unnecessary suffering of many lives. Your use is long overdue."

All that Weiss had to do was think of the dagger gifted to her from her dreams. It appeared in her right hand without sound or flash. A crude-make of a sickly dark green with a curved blade only half as long as her forearm, yet this dagger's very presence drained the light from the room.

"S-Stop." Jacques begged, fear clear in his voice at the sight of the dagger.

"Farewell, mongrel." Weiss said before she plunged the dagger into Jacques' gut.

Weiss didn't stop there as she forcefully raised the dagger up into the man's chest till it tore apart the rib cage and heart. Then did Weiss pull the blade out, but there was no spill of blood. The dagger had made the sacrifice and the room lost all light for the moment. A thousand screams filled the room as a singularity formed above the limp body of Jacques pulling not just blood but his very soul from his body.

This intense darkness was all for a single purpose centered on Weiss. There was only one more trial for the Schnee to complete her transition. Her ice blue eyes now giving off a pale glow glanced to the dagger in her hand, her face lacking any emotion. Without hesitation, Weiss plunged the dagger of darkness into her very heart.

She should've been dead at the moment, but instead dark forces roared to her side. The singularity of dense dark energies grew and surrounded Weiss in a pitch black bubble. The shadows licking off the orb became more solid and formed the shape of a cocoon. Within the singularity that had engulfed Weiss, a terrifying transformation was taking place that reality itself was screaming in terror of how wrong it was. Life and death were warped into a mess inside, and there was a deep drum coming from the singularity akin to a heart beat.

Finally, the cocoon stopped beating and instantly shattered. A humanoid shape of a feminine figure was crouched on the floor on one knee and slowly getting to her feet. Scaled yet sleek black armor adorned her body with black plates sported lightly on her joints and limbs. Her torso was wrapped in linked segments of black metal over a grey cloak that billowed out into black tatters that hid away her legs. Green scripture of an alien language was carved on the web-like cloth on her forearms and was circled around the base of her neck. The head was hidden in by a mask of metal carved of a terrifying and eldritch patterns and a black hood covered the rest of her head.

The left hand reached up and removed the mask, revealing the stranger to be none other than Weiss herself. Her skin however had lost all life in it and was now a snow white marred with black veins. The whites of her eyes were now pitch black and the irises were a ghostly white. With her right hand, Weiss made a holding motion and from a small burst of black came an object. Floating in her open palm was a small device made of carapace and magic shaped into a perfect pyramid with one glowing white eye darting around the room in curiosity.

"..." Nothing could possibly understand what the alien device had spoken, but only Weiss seemed to have understood it.

"Make this clear." Weiss said sternly, her voice more smooth and commanding. "You are my Phantom, and perhaps a friend, but you will never by my partner. There is only one person worthy of that title."

The Phantom seemed to have acknowledged Weiss' words with a nod. It then disappeared, and ghostly white particles surrounded Weiss as she was given new weapons. Myrtenaster was sheathed at her hip, but the once pristine blade of silver was now a twisted version of a sickly green blade the width of regular sword protruding thorns. One her back was can only be described as some sort of assault fire made from maroon colored carapace with only some bits of metal, and a similarly built pistol appeared at the right side of her hip.

_'Soon.' _Weiss thought. _'Soon, I'll bring you back, Ruby. We'll be the best of friends, and I'll save the world like you wanted to. That's a promise.'_

And so the first ever champion of the Darkness was born that day. Its name was the Conqueror, the anti-thesis to the Guardians who wield the Light. The tides of survival and war have changed forever.

* * *

**Yep, that's what I did. I made a whole new type of mess that will test the strength of the Last City. How will the Guardians be able to fight against foes equaling them with powers of the Darkness? More importantly, what will Ruby when she will eventually have to face her best friend on opposing sides?**

**This idea of the Conqueror came to me when I was thinking of how can the Darkness create something to equal yet oppose the Guardians. It went along the use of the title Conqueror, a name used on individuals that go on the attack to take. The opposite of the Guardians in their role to protect. I have ideas of what 'Dark' elements Weiss and any other Conquerors I think can use along with Classes and Sub-classes. Here is what I have so far in stats of Weiss Schnee.**

**Also let me know what the other two classes of the Conqueror's can be. I have Slayer for the opposites of Titans, but I can't think of one for the opposite of the Hunter class.**

**Conqueror:**

**Name: Weiss Schnee.**

**Class: Witcher. (Anti-thesis to Warlock.)**

**Sub-class: Wraithslaver. Fiendfyre. Linebacker.**

**Wraithslaver is basically a sub-class for the pure element of the shadows, and for a Weiss it gifts her abilities to use summons of darkness. Fiendfyre if a fire sub-class that uses darker fires like Hellfire. Linebacker is a sub-class using the element of blood and her class deals uses that blood in her cosmic powers, whether with the use of Weiss' own blood or her enemies.**

**The next stories I will be working on next are Roses of the Death Goddess, Fairy Fire, Shin Yokai, and then Darth Sauron in that order hopefully.**

**Now here's a little something I want your thoughts on.**

**Ruby Sith'ari, a Star Wars and RWBY crossover.**

**Summary: You know that lost tribe of Sith and Dark Jedi of the Naga Sadow line? The one that crashed on Kesh in Wild Space? Well, it's a good thing they've been stuck on that planet for thousands of years without hyperspace technology? Wait, whuzzat - WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE GRAND LORD'S GRANDDAUGHTER REINVENTED SPACE TRAVEL?! AND WORSE THEY ARE INVADING THE GALAXY DURING THE CLONE WARS!? WHAT THE FUCK, FORCE!? YOU HAD ONE JOB! Sith Empress Ruby, also known as Darth Grimm, the latest of the line of Naga Sadow yet born from the Force, has set her people back on the galactic map to succeed in the Sith's destiny of domination. AU.**

**Up next is Chapter 7: Happy Birthday with Mommy.**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review. I really love reviews.**


	7. Happy Birthday with Mommy

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 7: Happy Birthday with Mommy**

In the Last City under the protection of the Traveler, the dark of night had descended. Instead of a mirror image of the bleak Darkness that has plagued on the last of humanity's fears, the sky was lit up in the beauty of the cosmos. Serving both as a reminder to them of humanity's ambition of their past glory in the stars and a source of drive for the Guardians to fight for a possible future to move forward. Each Guardian will always look to that starry night to reflect their purpose from the limitless bright lights that still burned upon that canvas of black.

One of those Guardians that may hold all of that hope was Ruby Rose, a recent and eccentric Hunter Guardian. Childish yet incredibly talented out in the field and even more so with her innovation of the mecha-shift upon the gear for the Guardians. Her Light burned brighter than most like a beacon of white in the very rare moments she had Pine revive her. She didn't know it yet, but she was quickly forming her own legend in humanity's history.

But the fight on the Darkness was not on Ruby's mind nor can it distract her from more personal priorities. She had just returned after a late patrol from in the EDZ doing a favor of tuning weaponry from her now partner-in-creative-destruction, Banshee. And by tuning, it meant shooting a bunch of Fallen or Hive monsters a bunch of times and see if they guns for some reason weren't doing their job shooting bullets. Once her ship arrived flying over the plaza of the Tower, the form of Ruby teleported down walking over to Banshee with a skip in her step.

Banshee's shop was open and the Exo himself was standing right there polishing his weaponry to keep them in pristine condition. On sight of his favorite Guardian, Banshee paused his motions and gave Ruby a grin. The Hunter in red returned it in kind while holding a datapad recording each of the diagnostics for the Exo to analyze. They simultaneously made a nonchalant exchange with Ruby throwing the pad to Banshee while the Exo threw the Hunter a glowing purple Engram. Ruby instantly caught it and stashed the Engram away into her personal vault while few Guardians still around were giving Ruby looks of disbelief.

Because Banshee never smiled at any other Guardian and he certainly did not give away an instant Engram for one datapad. They could bitch and moan about the unfairness, but Banshee will just give them the finger in response to their bitching and moaning. In his cybernetic mind, Ruby was his partner in the weaponsmith business and his greatest respect for the field. A complete contrast to every Guardian that for some reason would sometimes come back with some of the weaponry broken.

However, Ruby paused in her step surprised to see up the steps in the back of the plaza stood the Vanguard of the Hunters and her own mother, Summer Rose. It still almost brought Ruby to tears every time she saw the face that mirrored to own, to know that her mother was really alive and was still kicking the butt of evil. One look between the silver eyed pair was all it took for anyone to recognize they were very closely related, and only a few really knew it as them being mother and daughter.

There was an awkward expression on Summer's face as she smiled at her daughter. Her face twitched in a mix of excitement and nervousness, and her body seemed to squirm in anxiousness. Ruby noticed none of this and approached her mother with a bright smile plastered on her youthful face. Just being with her mother and not being a dream was enough to make Ruby's spirits.

"Hi Mom." Ruby chirped. "What's up?"

"Hi Ruby." Summer greeted. "Well, I, uhm, have a little surprise for you."

"Really!?" Squeaked Ruby, and in a burst of rose petals glomped Summer's entire right side in a hug that almost tripped the elder Hunter. "Please, tellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellme!"

"Easy, easy." Summer chided, getting back her balance and setting Ruby back on the ground. "I can't really tell you. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Ooh." Ruby replied, her face sparkling in a cutesy way Summer had to hold herself back from pinching her daughter's cheeks. "I love surprises!"

Summer couldn't hold in her laugh. "Okay, but hold still."

The Vanguard in the white cloak walked around her daughter till she was standing behind her. She then moved her hands to cover Ruby's eyes to block her vision. Her expression morphed into confusion, but Ruby made no move to resist having complete trust in her mother.

"Just keep on walking and I'll give you directions." Summer told Ruby.

"Okay." Ruby said, walking forward with Summer close enough to keep Ruby's eyes covered.

With Summer's input of directions occasionally, the Rose pair were walking through the lower levels of the Tower of the residential areas. Summer's path led them to walk through the dark grey halls kept in mint condition for the Guardians that decide to make their homes here. In comparison to a civilian, each home was equal to a top-of-the-line apartment of at least four rooms. Potted plants and windows dotted the walls to give the complex a more homey feel for the Guardians.

The pair soon stopped in front of one of these apartment homes. This was Summer's personal abode that she had taken shortly after her arrival under the Guardian and when she was under the tutelage of Cayde. She had much more time to use the apartment home since being a Vanguard meant staying within the limits of the Last City. Her Ghost materialized and waved over the door that soon slid open granting access to Summer.

The first room Summer directed Ruby through was a kitchen with marble counters, an oven, and fridge that extended towards the entrance from the left into a dining room. Just ahead of them was a sizable living room with two cushion couches and one chair of the same material. There was a TV at the left of the wall of the living room, but it was pretty much mundane to use it in this era unless one somehow had recovered CDs from humanity's past. To the right was a hall that opened up to the bedroom that had a personal bathroom, and to the right was a door leading to the main bathroom. The floor was divided in two sections with a pale tile for the kitchen, dining room, and bathrooms while the rest was a grey carpet, and above the dining room and family room was a five-bulb LED light. Summer's destination for Ruby only led to the family room where her surprise waited for her daughter.

"Are we there yet?" Wondered Ruby.

"Almost there." Summer cooed, allowing Ruby to take a few more paces toward the living room. "And here we are."

Summer released her hold over Ruby's eyes to let her vision drink in the sight before her. Ruby instantly had her breath hitch in shock at what lay before her. Encompassing most of the floor of the living room were dozens of presents wrapped in gilded red paper and golden thread. There were so many that it made a pile that reached four feet in height. Tears glistened on Ruby's silver orbs as too many emotions came to the surface, but none of them were negative. She turned back to Summer, who was shifting nervously, but Ruby could not hold back the tears running down her face seeing her mother holding a small chocolate cake topped with vanilla icing and strawberries and one white candle burning on top. Perfect for a...

"Happy birthday, Ruby." Summer said fondly.

That's right. Today, was October 31st, her birthday, and now five months after her resurrection upon the tower of Beacon. Five months after not seeing any of her friends or family from Remnant, but in return fighting for a bigger purpose and finally reunited with her mother to guide her. She had made some new friends, especially among the more eccentric Guardians like the Hunters and a Warlock that can bake the best~ cookies in the world, but hadn't shared any of her past. In all honesty, Ruby had given up celebrating her next birthday without anyone to join her, but she never expected her mother to do so despite her memory loss.

"How?" Ruby gasped out.

"I... think I'm starting to remember." Summer explained, setting the cake down on the dining table. "I felt a lot of pain, but for some reason I could be more happy. I was holding a baby in my arms while a blonde man was crying happy tears beside me. Looking at that bundle in my arms... I can't describe how much my heart swelled in that moment. I saw doctors giving me a birth certificate, and I knew... I knew that dream was when you were born. My precious little Ruby.

Seeing Ruby making no response, Summer decided to continue. "You know, I have a lot to makeup for. I mean, I lost out on over nine years of birthdays for you, and on top of that I don't remember your first six. So I thought of just getting a whole bunch at once from the Lost City. Wasn't sure what to get, so I just got whatever you might have liked if you are anything like me, and then I ended up getting a whole of stuff-"

Summer's words failed to leave when at that point Ruby blurred to her mother and wrapped the Hunter Vanguard in the biggest of hugs she could possibly give, her head pressing just above her chest as Summer was only half-a-head taller. The older woman heard soft sobs escape her daughter's lips. Those sobs and tears tightened something at Summer's heart, calling out at hidden maternal instincts that were making their return. It was why Summer held Ruby close as well, gently holding the back of _her __daughter's _head.

Just thinking that this wonderful girl and Hunter was her daughter felt so right to Summer, and she long ago gave up resisting the sensation. She didn't want to let that go and hoped that this was no blissful dream. That she in fact in a previous life she was a gracious warrior and a kind mother to this - to _her _precious girl named Ruby. Her baby Ruby.

"Thank you." Sobbed Ruby lowly, her voice muffled as she buried her face in the crux of Summer's collarbone. "Thank you so much. I don't need presents, no matter how many. I already have the best in the world. I finally have my mom."

Summer couldn't help it when she felt more than heard the sheer affection in those words. Her own silver eyes rained down tears not of sadness but joy. She felt as if her legs were becoming jelly, but she endured to hug her daughter tighter. Her memories may be lost, but the dreams she had been having recently were clues to her past. It won't be like this where there was this thin yet sturdy invisible wall between them. They'll be a family again and that's a promise Summer was never going to break, not even for the next few eons.

"Oh, my baby." Summer sniffled, caressing Ruby's back. "I will get them back. I will get my memories, and we'll be a family again. By the Traveler's Light, I promise to make it so, Ruby."

"Me too." Ruby muttered.

The mother and daughter pair stayed in that hug for what felt an eternity, and they would kept themselves that way. It just felt so right holding each other. Summer in mind may see Ruby as a stranger and later as an extraordinary Hunter named Ruby, but her heart still remembered her little baby Ruby. She won't let anything separate them again!

"I love you, Ruby." Summer spoke with the most conviction she ever had in her life as a Guardian beside left right ear of her daughter, unashamed of the tears she was shedding.

"I love you too, Mommy." Ruby cried, but the tears did not diminish the happy smile.

* * *

(Remnant; On the Island of Patch)

In contrast to the starry night on Earth, Remnant was still at midday with the bright light of the sun. The island of Patch can be considered the epitome of a peaceful paradise that humanity of Earth wished to achieve. Grimm were hardly seen in its forests, making it the best place to start a family. Yet for now under the light of day it was anything but 'peaceful'.

A blast of an explosion erupted a bright yellow light to match the radiance of the sun from under the canopy of the forest a distance away from any town on Patch. The smell of ash and burning wood filled the air followed by the loud creek of a falling tree, making a small clearing to see the source of the disruption.

Standing before a newly made stump scorched black by intense flames was Yang Xiao Long, her shoulders heaving from her heavy breathing of exerting herself. Her lilac eyes were focused in contrast to the beads of sweat trailing over her body. Instead of wearing light wear that would help Yang alleviate her exhaustion under the sun, Yang was wearing heavy advanced armor of white and red that still managed to angle to reveal her feminine figure. A black body suit of thick material lay under plates of white metal that adorned her hips, legs, boots, chest, and arms. Protruding from her shoulders and knee caps were red plates useful to block side shots to her head.

On first glance, people on Remnant would think the armor was advanced gear from Atlas, but it was so much more than that. Though identified to be metal elements, the very molecules were made from a power of Light itself given construct in reality. Just a single piece of it was harder than any alloy in Remnant that relied on Dust. The means that made this gear was on a different league entirely.

In her hands told all of what she was. A giant hammer taller than herself with a hammer that went shoulder to shoulder was held tightly in both her hands. This hammer was made of solid golden light that occasionally licked up golden flames as beautiful and hot as the midday sun. This was the ultimate Hammer of Sol belonging to the Sunbreakers. A sub-class of the Titan Guardians, and she herself was one.

Months ago, Yang would never have dreamed of the craziness she was in wielding this cosmic power. That was before the Fall of Beacon. Before everything went to utter shit. Before her fucking partner just ran away after her goddamn arm was chopped off. Before... she lost Ruby.

But it wasn't the Darkness that awaited to drown her soul and mind from her despair. Her new Light in life came from a little sentient robot of Light that had given her arm back and this new strange power. Speaking of which, that so-called Ghost that Yang took the liberty to simply call him 'Bud' appeared right beside her right ears when the Hammer of Sol disappeared and floated right in front of her face.

"You've done well." Bud congratulated. "You managed to summon the Hammer of Sol for seven seconds longer, clocking your limit at six minutes and thirty-six seconds."

"It's," Yang panted, "still... not enough."

Logically, Yang should not be training while wearing such heavy armor, but it was crucial necessity. She had been reborn as a Titan and needed to get used to combat in it as soon as possible despite her near endless stamina gifted to her by the Light. One would think after everything that has happened to her Yang would have lost hope, especially after the apparent death of Ruby. That would be the case if Bud did not tell her that another Ghost had resurrected Ruby as a Hunter and took her, in his words, 'somewhere safe to get stronger'. It angered Ruby still that despite being her little sister being revived by a Ghost that it didn't deter the fact Yang failed to protect her. Yang resolved that she needed more than anything to master this new power as a Titan as much as possible.

Unfortunately, Yang could not follow Ruby to wherever she went because she never died when she was chosen and thus her family and friends know her to be alive unlike Ruby. She could not make herself disappear, or worse fake her death to go after Ruby. After the Fall of Beacon, her father, Taiyang, was basically torn down into a shell of a man having now a wife who left him, a dead second wife, and now his youngest 'dead'. There wasn't even a body to bury Ruby, and her empty grave was right next to Summer.

"Today would be Ruby's birthday." Yang said sadly, standing to her feet. "It - It should've been back at Beacon for this for our 2nd year at Beacon. I even planned to have Weiss buy Ruby the best in the line of weapon materials, and I would go get her the best chocolate-strawberry cake on the market. I would Blake distract Ruby while all our friends gathered in our dorm to surprise her. It - It would have been the best if... if..."

Bud's golden optics shifted awkwardly as he watched his partner start to cry with soft sniffles. The strong presence of a Titan that Yang was previously emitting was broken down into this young woman who has been torn apart emotionally. All of her friends are gone, separated across the world with no way to even see their faces. Even worse was her whole family was going down the drains with Taiyang's will broken and getting into a bad habit of drinking.

"Gu - Yang." Bud called, getting Yang's attention with her eyes red with tears. "It will be alright. I know that your sister Ruby is a registered Guardian. She is possibly out there fighting for a bigger cause with powerful allies to protect and train her. And very soon you will see her again."

"You're right." Yang sniffled, wiping the tears away. "And when that time comes, I need to get stronger so something like the Fall of Beacon _never _happens again."

"Good." Replied Bud, his chasis spinning around his optic. "Shall we continue."

Yang gave a grin as an answer and her Ghost disappeared in a blink of Light. For a moment, Yang calmed herself down and forced herself to clear her mind. She metaphorically reached out to grasp at the new intense warmth that made its home in her soul. A power greater than anything on the planet of Remnant came to her command and golden fire wreathed around her form. Finally, it coalesced into a smaller, one-handed hammer in her hand that she began to throw at the trees around her with a metal bang akin to striking an anchor.

* * *

**Quickly got this part done when I had the inspiration. This nice fluffy chapter I did enjoy writing this up since yesterday. Hope you are doing well in quarantine. My next update may be the first chapter for Red Campione.**

**Up next is Chapter 8.**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review.**


	8. Bestie Penny

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 8: Bestie Penny!**

Today was like any day in the tower. The sun was shining over the Last City, the Traveler was doing... Traveler stuff, and the Vanguard were micromanaging within the command center overlooking a rather empty plaza. Well, two of them as their the Hunter Vanguard was absent for reasons that escaped Zavala to his irritation.

"By the Traveler, please don't make a habit of this like Cayde, Summer." Grumbled Zavala, remembering his old friend's laziness with his position before Summer.

The Tower was uncommonly quiet, given the fact that Guardians were sent off to deal with humanity's enemies. There was an alarming incoming stream of morbid reports of their strength building by day. First, it was the resurgence of the Scourge during the year known as the Forsaken in the wake of Cayde's death, thus adding a new faction to combat. Then, there were reports of the Hive rituals increasing, such as rumors of the rise of this Savathun after the Vangaurd Strike on Titan, and disturbing rise of activity on the moon. Guardians have reported a very dangerous rise of Taken on Io, and the remnants of the Red Legion were becoming more bold by the day to get their revenge on the city. They were even trying to take over the Infinite Forest to use their simulations to find a time for the Red Legion's victory.

Zavala was already feeling the headache just thinking of all these potential dangers, and that was not even counting the constant assault of the Vex on the Gate of the Shattered. Despite his role in guarding the Last City, he also could not forsake a whole possible lost colony falling to the machines. The very Guardians guarding the gate had the same thoughts and they were far from the minority.

His thoughts then turned to one of their newest addition to the force. A ghost of a smile almost bloomed to reality on the Awoken male's face on the thought of the supposed daughter of his new fellow Vanguard. Despite the... eccentrics of late, Zavala could put that all aside and look to how much of a good change Ruby Rose has set in the Tower. Not only was she an extremely talented Guardian he would akin to his own mother's talents, Ruby had introduced a new line of weapons of mecha-shift technology. Where they lacked in power that Golden Age weaponry boasted, they more than made up in terms of versatility in their use bridging both ranged and melee combat in one.

_'Cayde would have loved to have seen one of these.' _Thought Zavala, his mood souring. _'The Tower's been almost too quiet without you around, old friend.'_

His thoughts were snapped back to reality as his ears picked up a hurried stride. Zavala looked in its direction towards the plaza, and to his surprise seeing Summer running up the stairs at full sprint. Once she got to actual command center, she collapsed her weight onto the table to steady herself. When Summer lifted her head, Zavala and Ikora paced back at the ragged look in her eyes.

"Guys, we are in so much trouble!" Summer exclaimed, real panic settling in her voice.

The whole command center went dead silent. Robots stopped working and petrified on the spot. Staff stopped what they were doing with their blood draining away. Zavala's eyes carried a great alarm in them. For whatever can spook Summer, one of the strongest Hunters in history, was certainly a grave threat to the Last City itself.

He was already coming up with scenarios that could have ticked off Summer. Did the Fallen find a way into the city? Are the Red Legion rearming the Almighty? Has Emperor Callus returned, this time to wage war? Is it the second coming of the Darkness?

"Summer, just calm down and tell us what is the problem." Ikora coaxed Summer.

"You don't know the danger that we are in." Summer panicked. "Ruby's bored!"

Whatever words of wisdom Ikora wanted to bring up died in her throat. Zavala's hands clasped on the table hard enough for cracks to appear. The staff stationed around them went into beads of sweat, and the robots decided the best course of logic was to shut down to avoid the impending doom.

_'So... much... pink!' _Thought Zavala in equal amounts of horror and anger the last time Summer's daughter was bored.

_'She's going to do it again.' _Ikora thought in a panic. _'The little devil is somehow going to infiltrate my quarters and replace all of my robes with bikinis.'_

A bored Ruby as they have all discovered led to a series of impossible and horrid pranks across the Tower. Summer's unique training style by pitting Ruby in pranks to improve her stealth and speed worked _too _well. Just like her mother, Ruby was just as talented in the ways of the Hunter, and she executed this in her mischief she unfortunately picked up from Summer, who picked it up from Cayde.

"How did this happen?!" Exclaimed Ikora. "She's an adventurer junkie like you and Cayde. Something has to catch her attention all the time."

"Well, that would be the case." Muttered Summer meekly, poking her fingers together. "But... you see, the whole time for the past month or two, Ruby has always been going on Vanguard Strikes and patrols across the system for so long. They were days I didn't get to see my baby come back to the Tower, and you know how that makes me worried sick. Like what if she comes home so hurt not even her Ghost-"

"Summer!" Ikora said with a raised voice, taking a hold of the Hunter Vanguard's shoulders. "Calm down! We can talk about your maternal instincts later. Right now, we have a situation on our hands. First of all, I need to know how this happened."

"You know how I said that Ruby was going on a whole bunch of Strikes and patrols across the solar system, right?" Summer said. "She was doing all of that just so she had saved up enough on Bright Dust to buy from the Eververse shop. Now she's just sort of lost in focus, and that's how she's bored."

Ikora sighed. "Okay, it's not as bad as last time. Maybe once Ruby gets down from the fallout of her end goal so far, she can get back to what she loves doing best. All we have to do is be patient."

"We don't have the luxury of waiting." Zavala shouted. "Even at this moment, Ruby could be plotting something disastrous. Perhaps she's planning to replace all of our defenses with roses and pixie dust?! And while she's at it, she could be also replacing our fuel supply with that damn confetti!?"

That has always been a question on Zavala's mind. Most of Ruby's pranks would involve the use of confetti to replace ammo mags and even entire fuel canisters. The question that nagged Zavala's head was where the fucking hell was the red-hooded devil getting all of it?!

Neither Ikora or Summer deigned to respond to the Titan Vanguard. Internally, they knew his words held true, and Ruby can cause so much 'damage' in so little time. Ikora wanted to say these claims were ludicrous if it weren't for Ruby's exploits over the monts. She would certainly make Summer and Cayde so proud.

"W-We can maybe mitigate the damage if we act now." Summer suggested. "We just gotta-"

"Mommy~." Cried out the subject of their fears.

Summer didn't know whether to cry tears of sorrow or joy. On one hand, Ruby was planning a prank on her own mother, or this was Summer's chance to lessen the damage in one of Ruby's prank boredoms. She turned around like a creaky door to see her beautiful daughter come into the room. The Hunter in red had not changed much in appearance of her armor, and instead using resources to upgrade on occasion to deal with growing threats. However, it would seem Ruby had now changed out her helmet as she carried a new one under her left armpit, featuring a most black color with a T-shaped crimson-glowing visor that widened around the eyes. On sight of the pranking menace of the Tower, it took all of Zavala's courage not to suddenly summon a giant Void shield to guard them all.

"What's wrong, sweety?" Summer asked, trying to hide her nervousness behind her warm smile.

"I'm bored." Ruby whined.

_'Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.' _Was the general record playing in Summer's head.

She had to figure out something to distract Ruby, if just a little, _right now_. At any second, Ruby would metaphorically explode with a half-cocked plan that was going to lead to some sort of disaster a Cabal general would be envious in its planning. Summer loved how good Ruby was at the pranks, but times like these she dreaded that she taught her daughter too well to the point Ruby could bring down the entire Tower if she wanted to.

_'Cayde, what would you do in this situation?' _Summer cried in her head.

_"Now, Summer," _A tiny version of Cayde spoke in her head, oddly enough riding a giant-sized colonel, _"if you ever find yourself in a pickle where you, unfortunately, have to stop a prankster going loose, all you have to do is-"_

_"Bok!" _Colonel however interrupted Cayde at the last crucial moment, caused by Ruby calling out to her mother.

Summer blinked out of her trance and looked back at Ruby. She took a deep breath and decided to try some small talk before Ruby got... drastic. There cannot be another feather-and-tar incident.

"You got a new Sparrow from the Eververse, right?" Summer asked. "So how is it?"

Ruby perked up. "Yeah, it's perfect. Like, I know the standard Sparrow is easy enough to handle-"

_"You crashed over a dozen times,"_ Pine interjected in Ruby's head, _"while driving in a straight, flat line."_

"-but it is only a little faster than my own speeds." Ruby continued. "And you know, I think I'm more comfortable with something has a more slippery handling to it, if you know what I mean."

"Sounds awesome." Summer said, then an idea finally hatched in the Vanguard's head. "Hey, why don't you and I-"

Her words were caught in her throat when Ruby's Ghost, Pine, suddenly made its appearance. Its shell was spinning rapidly and its glowing pupil was darting to the sides. This was probably the closest of a Ghost having constipation.

"You okay, Pine?" Ruby asked in concern.

"Ugh, I did not think that _it _would awake so suddenly." Pine muttered lowly, slowly calming himself down.

Zavala narrowed his eyes. "Something you would like to share with us, Ghost?"

"I," Pine said with a hesitant eye roll, "may have picked up something from Ruby's home. I just thought it was some highly condensed data. Imagine my surprise when I somehow uploaded actual intelligence."

"An intelligence?" Ikora wondered. "Like a lifeform?"

"Erm, I think it's more accurate I picked up a soul." Pine amended. "And now that soul has woken up, and wants to talk."

"Then let's get to it." Ruby chirped, a curious gleam in her silver eyes. "Nothing gained without some risky adventure."

_'Sounds exactly like a Hunter should.' _Ikora thought with a smile on her face.

"Alright..." Pine said, his tone unsure. "Not sure how this can work... Uhm - hghgyergerk - !"

Ruby watched in concern and surprise as her Ghost suddenly shook in a seizure, or at least a robotic version of a seizure. His floating form darted across the air for a while as if trying to retain his movements. After a minute, Pine's erratic movements ceased and his head dipped down. Raising back up, Ruby jumped slightly when Pine's eyes took on a strange green hue to them.

"Friend Ruby?" 'Pine' spoke, but his voice had taken on an obvious feminine tone.

Summer's eyes widened in surprise. She had only seen this once when her own Ghost, Sparky, had bonded with the Ghost of Osiris, Sagira. It was a weird experience to Summer hearing a different voice from her partner, but she never thought it would happen again. Yet, she was nowhere near as shocked as her daughter was, her eyes gleaming with recognition at the voice and how she was addressed.

"Penny?" Ruby murmured, her voice expressing a vain hope.

"Yes, it is me, friend Ruby." Chirped 'Penny', giving an upward lift that was the closest to a salute. "Salutations-"

"You're alive!" Cried Ruby, her words cutting the Ghost off. "I thought you were a goner!"

Lithe, gloved hands snapped to her Ghost, and hugged the small machine close to her chest. If it weren't for its shell, Ruby's strength would have shattered the poor creation. The single digital eye socket swiveled in Ruby's grasp.

"This is amazing, but," Ruby said, reluctantly holding her Ghost in arm's reach, "how are you inside Pine? I saw you get ripped to pieces."

"I am also... perplexed by my situation." Penny agreed. "I was seventy-four percent sure that I was terminated from the destruction of my body. My core processor would have eroded without my body operating itself, and yet soon after I found myself... picked up is the appropriate term. If this vessel is identified as Pine, then he has uploaded my being into his own matrix and has kept me preserved until I core processor was in no longer in danger of erosion."

"So... basically you were asleep?" Ruby guessed, not completely understanding what Penny was explaining.

She was a borderline prodigy in weapon designs, but when it came to robotics Ruby was completely in the dark. The concept of an artificial body was too complicated for her when its functions go beyond than just slash or shoot-to-kill.

"Yes." Penny agreed. "And now that I am awake, the one known as Pine has given me the means to speak, though he still retains the motor functions of this strange, yet extremely advanced body. I was surprised that this vessel could hold my 'consciousness' and still have a lot more room."

Ruby released a chuckle. "Penny, did you just say Pine is dumb?"

Before Penny could answer, the Ghost went through another seizure. The green eye turned back to blue, indicating Pine was back in total control.

"I would like to think she was complimenting me." Pine's voice spoke. "I am astounded just how complicated this data intelligence. No, this is more accurate to the consciousness of an Exo."

"Ruby," Zavala's voice broke through for the first time, "this... Penny that you refer. Was she an artificial life form?"

"Erm... yes." Ruby answered reluctantly. "She was developed by Atlas as some sort of android. Yet despite that, I know she has a soul like the rest of us. She has feelings."

The reactions Ruby got from the Vanguards were quiet to say the least. Zavala held his chin as he hummed in thought. While reports from Axion's scouting from Remnant yielded their technology to be significantly lesser than their own, he knew better that there were exceptions. He did not foresee the possibility Remnant's people were able to replicate a Golden Age technology that would become the war machine race of the Exos. Ikora was in similar thought as she her gaze fell to the floor. Summer...

"So you have a robo friend." Summer said. "That's neat."

...took it in a stride without any caution. Like mother like daughter.

"This is great." Ruby cooed, gently holding her Ghost in one hand. "You have no idea how happy I am you are alive. Maybe we can go on adventures together."

"I would love that, friend Ruby." Penny's voice spoke as the blue eye changed to green. "Unfortunately, I fail to see how I could be of any use to you in this body. It is not mine after all, and I have no idea how to use any of its functions."

"Not to be an ass, but I won't let anyone control my body unless it's me." Stated Pine fervently.

"The answer's simple then." Ruby chirped. "We can put Penny into a new body."

"How do you propose you do that?" Ikora asked.

Ruby did not miss a beat. "I could find an empty Exo suit. The bodies are perfect for Penny."

The young Hunter expected to see encouraging smiles, but was instead met with grim grimaces. The atmosphere in the command center turned deadly still. Ruby looked to her mother only to be met with a pained cringe. It was Zavala who became the voice to this mood.

"Unfortunately, that may not be possible." Zavala revealed, holding his hands behind him. "Exo bodies are Golden Age tech, originally designed to host human souls. They are soo rare, they close to nonexistent, and the Exos you see around us have only survived thanks to being revived by their Ghosts."

"Oh..." Ruby muttered dejectly.

Seeing Ruby's mood take a nosedive, Summer immediately went to her aide. "B-But there may be a way to find a surviving Exo shell. You could visit the Warmind, Rasputin, for help."

Pine's eye grew green for a moment as the soul of Penny perked up to attention.

"A Warmind?" Ruby said, exchanging looks with Pine. "What's a Warmind?"

"The Warmind is an ancient AI designed before the collapse." Ikora explained, using her space magic to project the image of the solar system with satellites connected by orange lines. "Rasputin is the only Warmind left, and he had full control of the entire defense grid that spans the entire solar system."

"Uhm... translation?" Ruby said, unsure.

Summer interjected. "The AI basically has control over every rocket port and weapon imaginable."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Woah. So how can this Warmind help me and where can I find him?"

"I'm just going off on a strings here." Summer noted before continuing. "It was a year ago I helped in getting the Warmind fully operational as he is now. I've heard that in days long past that he would inhabit an Exo unit to walk among us. Maybe he has a storage facility on Mars where his mainly situated."

"Guess that's the best I've got now." Ruby said, glancing to her Ghost. "Looks like I got my own personal quest. Mission: Get Penny a New Body is a go. Pine, jump in coordinates for Mars. Let's hit it!"

"On it!" Pine replied as he disappeared away.

Without a word, Ruby leapt out of the command center into the open air over the plaza. Before making a landing, her form shimmered in light, and in the next second a pair of mighty ion engines roared across the tower. From the hanger bay, a Thresher Cabal ship ascended into the air. However, the ship was no longer owned by the enemy as noted by the changed paint job from its brick red to an onyx black with red highlights. A rose was detailed on both sides of the carrier ship to show this was Ruby's personal ship that she 'absconded' from the Cabal during a Strike. It was more a form of compensation since they were the ones that blew up her original ship, and decided a little revenge was needed by using their own weaponry against them.

Summer had given the name of Ruby's new ship of 'Blazed Rose', and it was now one of a kind model of the shipyard that multiple Guardians were trying to get one themselves from the Cabal. Similar to how Summer herself manage to snag a Fallen dropship to bring back to the Tower. The engines of Blazed Rose grew in their roar and tilted to a vertical angle and then the ship soared out of the atmosphere, setting off with a boom as it warped.

Once the Cabal ship blurred into warp space, Summer heard her colleagues release a sigh of relief. She laughed nervously at their display, not willing to deny what would have happened if there wasn't anything to get rid of Ruby's boredom. Her daughter was a true menace to a Tower by herself.

* * *

**Man, I did not realize I have not updated this story yet for so long. And it's going along so great. Now we can get Penny back as an Exo. I want to make her a Guardian but I'm not sure what class she should be. I am stuck between Warlock and Titan, but I know what her overall armor and design should be.**

**I will be working on chapters for Silver Legacy.**

**Up next is Chapter 9: Penny 2.0**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review.**


	9. Salutations, Rasputin

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 9: Salutations, Rasputin**

(Mars)

On this day, the legion posted upon the red planet of Mars had one of its worst nightmares born that day. It first started when a Cabal Thresher vessel came out of warp above the one of their checkpoints. They instantly something was wrong by the black paint job and the customizations on the ship. Before the local captain could give the order to fire, a Guardian had teleported right in front of them. A Hunter to be exact by the red cap trailing behind her. Now this wouldn't be much of a worry for the Cabal and some of them relished the challenge of facing one of the undying ones.

It soon became clear that perhaps other ways could have been taken the second a soldier right next to the captain had his blown off. Bizarre thing was the Hunter was right on top of the soldier -wielding a scythe big enough to cleave through a whole Cabal in one swing, its blade crackling with Arc energy. Thus the slaughter began when that scythe sliced through the captain in one fell swoop, ignoring his Solar shield.

The rest of the Cabal seeing the death of their commander roared in fury and unleashed the music of their firepower. It proved useless as the red-cloaked Hunter was faster than even the bullets could reach her. In one second, five ground troops were already dead. A phalanx slammed down his shield to block off the hallway to prevent pressing the advantage. The Hunter in response, switched out the scythe for a hand cannon to shoot the center of the shield, disabling its power supply and getting a bullet to the head.

A Cabal phalanx glanced to his fallen comrade, but it proved his biggest mistake when he felt a small weight on top of his shoulder. The HUD of his helmet tried to identify the source until the click of a cocked back hammer reached his small ears. He was frozen still at his enemy's mercy.

"It's a really big design flaw, don't you think so?" Said the Hunter that is known as Ruby Rose. "What good is an energy shield if hitting it in the center shuts it down? Geeze, learn to put down some heat plating or some sort of protective casing. Now - where can I find Penny a new body!?"

What the hell was this human even saying - ! Following a bang from the hand cannon, the Cabal's helmet exploded in hissing air. The lumbering giant space mole soon collapsed, his head revealed with a bullet straight through it. Meanwhile, Ruby ducked behind cover as more Cabal arrived, instantly firing down the hall.

Ruby focused her Solar Light into her open left palm. The hot Light of burning stars condensed and took shape roughly that of grenade. She spared a quick peek down the hall where the Cabal gathered to gauge the distance. The grenade was blindly lobbed out to the side, yet landed exactly on the shoulder of a Legionare. The Hunter savored the sweet sound of exploding Solar Light and the savoring silence that followed.

"Wow, I am awesome." Ruby mused to herself.

She twirled her hand cannon to the side of her head, taking a moment to admire the weapon. This was a personal creation Ruby worked in conjunction with Banshee. Its entire frame was coal black and it's long barrel was dotted in those petals. Surprisingly, Ruby restrained from adding a mecha-shift, wanting to see how far she can go in making the ultimate hand cannon. The result was a Legendary level killing machine unleashing Solar ammunition, putting it down as an energy weapon. Ruby named the new model "The Answer" to the ultimate question:

_"Violence isn't the answer. It's the question. And the answer is yes!"_

With a flick of her wrist, the chamber and barrel together opened up like a hinge, not unlike that of a sawn-off shotgun. Automatically, the chamber popped with its remaining ammunition into her inventory and replaced with a fresh cylindrical clip into the chamber. With another flick, The Answer's chamber and barrel went back into place with a satisfying locking click.

"Let's see what they were hiding down here." Ruby mused, remembering the captain she killed dropped some sort code her Ghost already analyzed and stored into her HUD.

The red-cloaked Hunter skipped down the hall, ignoring the scorched bodies of the Cabal she had dispatched. Turns out her grenade managed to snag a whole eight of them that were guarding the entrance. One of them was an Incendior and her grenade had fortunately ignited his weapon's fuel tank, causing all of them to suffer a gruesome burning death. It really confused Ruby how an alien race of a grand military were overlooking such obvious flaws like a vulnerable fuel tank. Not like she was actually going to tell them that; the Last City already has enough problems with the rise of the Scorn in the Reef.

Cabal chests were the most robust out of any of the factions she encountered. They always had the most advanced weaponry on average due to their military lifestyle. The chest that Ruby came along was big enough to be a bed, was half her height, and was colored all black. A simple look at the console to transfer the key code, and the lid slid open with bright blue light. Lying before her was a literal pile of Glimmer, all automatically being transported into her account by her Ghost, and a lone scout rifle. Picking it up, Ruby discovered it was the "Does Not Compute" model, a Legendary class rifle. It was an impressive weapon, but it did not compare to Ruby's "Nameless Midnight" she was awarded by the Vanguard. She preferred to have more bullets in the magazine anyway.

Via her HUD, Ruby transported the weapon into her inventory on her ship where she remotely disassembled it to his basic parts. At least from this short endeavor she was going to give some impressive pieces back to Banshee.

"Now that's done," Ruby said as she summoned Pine, "where's the Raspa-whatsitname?"

Pine gave an exhausted sigh at his partner's antics. The entire time he was trying to tell Ruby that she was in the wrong location and the facility housing the Rasputin A.I. was on the other side of the map to the Braytech Futurescape. It was there that Ana Bray and the Warmind were housed and served as the local vendor for the Guardians on Mars. But its Ruby and she is always distracted in her expeditions followed by hefty amounts of destruction on the enemy.

"I don't even know why I try." Muttered Pine. "Kay, Ruby just please follow the guiding mark I've uploaded to your helmet's HUD."

From behind the red visor, Ruby peered with her silver eyes. The inside of her helmet was a mesh of lights that kept track of multiple of her systems such as her ammo, radar, and compass along with the clear world as she saw it. She noticed a small white diamond appeared on her vision, which was the guiding mark Pine uploaded. Smile plastered on her face, she sprinted out of the enemy outpost into the open to hop. A mental command to Pine summoned her Sparrow she hopped into with automatic ease... which was of all things a Micro Mini she bought from the Eververse shop. It was colored in one of the crucible colors for a rich white, black, and red color scheme that she may have bargained (read: forced) Shaxx as a deal to stop replacing all the clips with confetti.

As Ruby blasted the Mirco Mini forward in a blaze of crimson jet fuel, Pine took a moment to mentally prepare himself. She was getting better at a Sparrow admittedly, but he still knew he was going have to wait a long while. Already Ruby somehow managed to crash the Sparrow into a practical wall of fuel canisters, destroying the Sparrow in a mess of melted metal and fire. At least this time Ruby managed to stay alive unlike the thirty-six times before this. It was going to be a long series of prepares and burning crashes.

* * *

(Mars; Braytech Futurescape)

Ana Bray, the Hero of Twilight Gap and in her former life the psycholinguist to the Warmind Rasputin, did not know how to think at the moment. What was she supposed to think when she watched a young Guardian fly her Sparrow straight into the chamber in a spinning arrow maneuver only to crash and burn right into a wall just beside her? The Guardian in question was flown while engulfed in a ball of fire from the Sparrow's ruptured fuselage right in front of her. A quick roll and Ghost repair work, and the Hunter Guardian, as indicated by the red cloak she wore, stood straight up without hesitation staring at Ana.

"Hi there~!" Chirped Ruby in a sing-song voice.

Ana looked in no amount of bewilderment at the Hunter's entrance and the nonchalant manner after her crash. She wasn't the only one as the Guardian that she was previously talking with, a Titan dressed in red and white armor, stared at Ruby from behind his helmet.

"Did that really just happen?" The Titan said, pointing at Ruby who was of all things humming a tune.

Ana could already feel a migraine forming in her head. Not even two seconds and the caretaker of Rasputin knew this Guardian was going to be a hassle. By the Traveler, she thought it was over when Summer became the new Vanguard of the Hunters.

Ana sighed. "What are you doing here, Guardian?"

"Well, I heard that you are the caretaker to the Warmind." Ruby explained. "I was hoping he knew where I can possibly find an intact Exo body, or at least a facility where they could be housed."

The Titan Guardian beside Ana seem to perk up at the mention of Exo bodies. His form stilled, but he did not say a word.

Ana raised an eyebrow. "Then go talk to the big guy then over there. Your lucky I managed to teach Rasputin Enligsh."

The Hunter jabbed a thumb behind her. Ruby finally gave a glance down the massive chamber that housed the Warmind where at the very end was a massive orb of digital code condensed into orange hard light. Pine floated above her shoulder. A catwalk extended three quarters of the way to where a singular console was raised in place. Ruby did not sense any malevolence like she did from the Fallen, Hive, or Cabal, but she felt some sort of presence watching her intensely. It was enough to make the young Guardian gulp, but she still walked forward.

Coming to the console, she found it was some sort of circular interface with a hand print shown in orange on the small screen of a circle. Hesitantly, Ruby put a hand on it as instructed, and she saw the screen light up as if scanning her. The giant orb of digital orange light seemed to pulse in response.

"Uhm... h-hello?" Ruby greeted nervously.

**"Greetings, Guardian." **Came such a cacophony of human voices and digital harmonics that was Rasputin.

So overbearing was the voice of the last Warmind that Ruby stumbled back in shock, almost falling off her feet. She immediately froze at the voice as it grated at her ears. Actually, they were bleeding, which Pine was already on the job of healing the damage.

"Jeez, you are loud." Ruby complained, lightly tapping the side of her helmet to knock the blood out of her ears.

**"You come to me in search of intact Exo units." **Rasputin spoke, each syllable coming with a pulse from the digital orb. **"I am curious into why you look for such ancient technology."**

"It's because of my friend." Ruby said. "It's really weird and really hard to explain, but the point is that she needs a new body to inhabit."

Before Ruby could potentially stumble on her words in her anxiety, her Ghost floated right in front of her. She noted how the blue optic switched back and forth to the familiar green that was Penny held inside of Pine. A silent conversation between the two of them, and Ruby spoke no more after giving the Ghost a nod. Pine floated to the console and projecting a green beam into the systems. A partial amount of the lights in the chamber changed to a green tinged, and there was a concerned rumble of machinery. The orb of the Warmind pulsed as if confused by this development.

The console Pine was operating projected intense green light towards Rasputin. That light took shape of definite humanoid traits such as arms and legs with the curves of a feminine entity. There was no discerning features like skin or hair, and white eyes opened at where the head was. Ana and the Titan in the back of the chamber were gawking in a mix of awe and concern at this development.

**"Salutations~!" **The voice of Penny projected digitally but no less cheery. **"It is nice to meet you, Rasputin."**

If Rasputin could blink in astonishment, the Warmind would have done so for ten seconds straight. Though the form was more obscure, Ruby had no doubt it was Penny herself being physically projected from Pine. As for Ana and the Titan in the back, the Guardians were openly gaping at the appearance of what was seemingly another, more human-like AI.

"Holy shit." The Titan swore. "Dudes at home not gonna believe this."

"A surviving Warmind?" Ana wondered. "No, this one doesn't match any of the make by the Brays."

**"What... are... you?" **Rasputin said, his cacophony of harmonics projected in a mix of suspicion and interest. **"You are not Warmind. Nor do I recognize an AI designated as 'Penny'. Your capacity of personality and emotion are too real to be so. Not of Golden Age technology."**

**"I am happy to answer." **Penny replied, her projection giving a salute. **"I am named by Penny Polendina, created by my 'father' Pietro Polendina and first AI robotic combat unit of the Atlas military. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Warmind Rasputin."**

**"No, not AI." **Rasputin voiced in way of denial. **"You are _actual_ intelligence. Sentience given form through artificial means. You have the capability of a soul. We are not the same. You are of life given digital form, carrying the same spark as my creators."**

Ruby perked up with a smile. "So you see it too, right? That she has a soul despite being created."

**"Correct." **Rasputin confirmed, and Ruby could feel the surprise from Penny leaving the once robot girl silent. **"I see. So that is why you are searching for intact Exo unit. You wish to give this... 'Penny' a new physical body to walk among us."**

"Yes!" Ruby exclaimed. "Please tell me where I can find one of them so I can give Penny a new body. She's... She's my friend, and I will everything for my friends."

Behind Ruby, Ana and the Titan Guardian seem to be touched by Ruby's words. While Ana gave a soft smile, the Titan's posture looked to relax at those words.

**"Your request... is accepted, so you shall have my assistance." **Rasputin replied, gaining bright looks from Ruby and Penny. **"However, most of network connected to facilities housing and creating Exo tech has been cut off for eons. Even now, I do not have the power to fully create anymore Exo units. My latest memory banks tell me that there is one facility to the east that served as one my last major Exo manufactures. If there is any greater chance to find an intact unit, it is there."**

"Thank you." Ruby chirped. "You have no idea the good you've done for us."

**"See to it that you that Penny acquires a new body." **Rasputin spoke. **"Fortune come for you, Guardian."**

Penny disappeared back into Pine as the Ghost disengaged from the console and spoke. "The Warmind has uploaded the coordinates. We really have to far east."

_'And at least in those open plains there will no way she can crash.' _Thought Pine.

"Alright, let's go!" Ruby cried as she went into a full sprint after the white marker on her HUD.

Only to get clotheslined at the end of the chamber, causing Ruby to slip across the ground on her upper back with her red cloak covering her face. She groaned when she impacted the metal wall, and looked up to find Ana with an arm held out. The Titan walked up to Ruby with a hand outstretched, which Ruby took to pull herself up.

"Not so fast, Guardian." Ana said. "That's Cabal territory out there, and I mean the whole place is filled with those warmongers. Going alone, even a Guardian, is just asking to become their new target practice. You need more people with you."

Ruby visibly deflated. "Oh..."

"I can send out a call to Guardians to help, but this will take a while to gather up." Ana said. "You're just going to have to wait."

"Then I'll go." The male Titan said, stepping up to the plate.

Ruby snapped her head in the Titan's direction. Like his title, he stood tall in an imposing manner like Zavala as well as the feeling of being uplifted. That one now had the strength of a mountain at their back. Ana narrowed her eyes at the Titan in confusion.

"I'm not going to say no." Ana said. "Are you sure you want to do this? It is some pretty nasty land to where you are heading."

"I am going." The Titan said firmly, glancing down to Ruby since she only reached to her fellow Guardian's chest. "Kid's got a good heart. She wants to help someone, so I'm going to help to help that someone. Simple as that."

"Thanks." Ruby mumbled. "Oh, if we're going to work together, we need to know each other's name. Mine is Ruby. What's yours?"

"Francis." Answered the Titan. "C'mon. Let's go hop in our Sparrows and brave the red sands of Mars. Don't want to keep your friend waiting."

"Wait a moment!" Pine interjected, suddenly appearing in front of Francis. "Uhm, could we ride on your Sparrow too? Ruby has a tendency - that we are working - that involve crashing her Sparrow in ten seconds flat."

"PINE!" Ruby whined. "I only crashed seven times!"

"You managed to drive into a stash of ship fuel when it was behind you in five seconds!" Pine shouted back. "What more important? Your friend or your ride?"

"My friend." Ruby admitted without hesitation, crossing her arms in defeat. "Fine, have it your way, Pine."

"By the Traveler, thank you!" Pine cheered, twirling in the air in joy. "And thank you for saving me from this walking mess."

"Uh... thanks?" Francis said unsure with a tilt of his head. "Let's head out."

"Aye." Ruby said.

For the moment, the two Guardians ran down the halls with Ruby purposely holding back her pace to give Francis the lead. Along the way, Ruby took note of the Titan's equipment. Strapped to his right thigh was a crimson hand cannon with a red muzzle and a bayonet attached to the bottom of the barrel. By those looks, Ruby identified it as an Exotic-class hand cannon named Crimson that used primary ammunition. On his back was rocket launcher with a white barrel painted sky blue and white known as the Legendary-class rocket launcher named the Sleepless capable of deploying cluster bombs. There was a shotgun strapped perpendicularly on his lower back that had a much more compact build to it, almost blocky in appearance with a black and green paint job set in a scratching pattern, and there were notable folding lines running along the entire weapon.

_'Hey, that's one of my designs.' _Ruby thought. _'The Roar of Yami. One of my first ones that I made since coming here. Glad to see someone using this shotgun despite its appearance. I made it so the blade is actually hidden well in its gun form, but made it lightweight in melee mode.'_

Pine appeared again floating near her right ear, but the optic was glowing green and looking quite down.

"Ruby." The voice of Penny made Ruby slow her pace. "Rasputin said that I have a spark of life. Do I really have a soul?"

Ruby smiled at Penny. "Of course I do. If someone like a real AI can see you have one, then you definitely do have a soul. I can still feel it. So hang in tight there Penny. Just until I get you a new body."

* * *

**To the one known as Francis in Reviews, I want to give you thanks for the idea of the Titan that will help Ruby in this glorious endeavor for Penny's new body. Ruby may be a good Hunter, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to have a few friends look after your back. **

**With that in mind, I am letting you all know that in the coming chapters that the story will progress into the Last Wish. That's right for in this fic, Cayde's killer has not be brought to justice until now. And so when Riven's treachery comes to reveal itself, Ruby and a fireteam will be sent to do away with this menace once and for all. So I ask of you, my fellow Guardians, who among you wish to join Ruby to smite the evil that is responsible for the death of OUR Vangaurd Cayde. WHO'S WITH ME!?**

**Up next is Chapter 10: Spare Parts.**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review.**


	10. Spare Parts Vol 1

**Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Destiny is owned by Bungie. Please support the official release.**

**Chapter 10: Spare Parts Vol. 1**

Above the valley was an expanse of red, rocky flats with tall mountains, like a crimson dead version of Earth. The red planet of Mars had always been considered Earth's sister planet, and would have supported its own life it if it weren't for its core frozen. That is until the Traveler arrived in the solar system to bring about the Golden Age for humanity. Colonization of Mars was made possible, and terraforming the world's surface gave it is own breathable air, but no capability for any life of its own.

In that expanse of red flats was a treasure trove of secrets of the Golden Age long buried by the sands of time... and by the literal sands of Mars. However, the Vanguard had forbidden Guardians from going out across the planet and felt the general location situated with the Warmind took greater priority than the world itself. Out there in those plains was a collection of Cabal that were unchallenged in their claim on the rest of Mars. No Guardian had ever went out to fight them for the Golden Age facilities the Cabal held.

Until now however when that endless sea of red was slightly disturbed by a trail of orange flames soaring across the landscape. This blaze came from a speeding Sparrow where two Guardians, Francis and Ruby, rode one after managing to climb out of the valley. According to their Ghosts that have marked the destination uploaded to them by the Warmind, they were only a few kilometers from their objective. So far they haven't been shot down, but if they had taken a ship they wouldn't instantly be gunned down by anti-aircraft weaponry the moment they got close. The ride has been calming as they planned for the eventual siege on a heavily fortified Cabal base, but for Ruby Rose is was slightly bittersweet.

_'Pine, why can't I ride in my own Sparrow?'_ Ruby whined.

_"No!" _Snapped Pine in her head.

Behind her helmet, Ruby made a pitiful frown. She was made to sit behind Francis as he maneuvered his Sparrow, a Pegasus Bravo painted a glossy red with white highlights, away from any protruding rocks in the way while keeping a deadline for their target. Pine felt so relieved to be on a ride that didn't crash in the span of five seconds and went along smoothly.

Their destination was taking them across the red flats to range of high-standing cliffs in the distance. Ruby and Francis both saw the white diamond on the HUD of their helmets that was directing to one point in that cliff where something seemed to shine silver in reflection of the sunlight. It was huge structure of industrial steel built into the cliff with a wall of ancient steel going up the cliff. Four platforms extended out, with the upper two massive in size to fit a landing fleet of starships where one of the Cabal's carriers while the bottom served as a motor pool. They didn't binoculars to see how the whole place was littered with Cabal forces to the point to rival a Hive nesting ground.

"Almost there." Francis informed. "Damn, never thought I'd be all the way out here. Seems almost peaceful if you didn't mind we can blown up by missile bombardment."

"Hey, uh, can I ask something, Francis?" Ruby inquired. "Why are you helping us? I get we are the good guys and we are Guardians. All I'm doing is trying to find a body for Penny. You didn't have to come."

"Because I wanted to." Francis answered. "See, I've been a Guardian for quite a while. Probably almost a decade, and safe to say ignoring all the humanity ending dangers, life is great. I've made a lot of friends with some of the closest being Exos themselves. They may be built differently with all the metal, but they are as human as the rest of us. I can understand where you are coming from, so you can rest easy with me at your back."

Ruby smiled behind her helmet. "Thanks."

"Heh, no problem." Francis said with a thumbs-up. "Let's see how far I can go before they can spot us."

Just as those words left from the lips behind his helm, the Sparrow had raced over a sensory line of the Cabal. Once it detected the Sparrow as an enemy vehicle, the hidden array revealed itself flaring a bright red light going as far as the eye could see and filling the whole flats with a loud blare. Francis and Ruby snapped their heads around in alarm and their danger senses were burning in their heads.

"Aaakhh... shiiiit!" Cursed Francis, feeling he was now a bullseye for the Cabal. "Hang on, Ruby. This is going to get crazy. Hopefully, we won't die as much."

_"OH NO, NOT AGAIN!" _Bemoaned Pine.

* * *

(Just shortly earlier...)

Over at the Exo facility now serving as a base for the Cabal, two Legionaires were standing shoulder to shoulder at the end of one of the massive platforms. Both were overlooking the vast expanse of the red plains of Mars with disciplined gazes. However, like all things, there was room for idle talk. The left Cabal turned to his comrade in arms, and spoke in their native language via helm comms.

"Brother Thundun, why are we here?" Asked the Legionaire.

The identified Cabal glanced to his comrade, an incredulous behind his helm. "To guard the base of course, Callor. It serves as one of our strongest footholds on this red planet."

Callor shook his head. "I do not mean that, Thundun. I pertain to why are we here as beings in this plain of reality. The great mystery of how we are here in this expansive universe that gave birth to us. Are we simply a cosmic coincidence? Or are there really gods in the universe, beings who rule over all of creation absolutely, that have decided to give us life? Is there a destiny for us, some great fate to answer our creation? What do you think, Thundun?"

The Cabal known as Thundun just stared at his comrade, momentarily forgetting their shared task of being watch guards for potential intruders. Neither broke contact from each other, the feeling of 'awkwardness' almost alien to them. Yet, in that moment, Thundun could only look at Callor in no small amount of bewilderment. A dead silence hanged in the air between them as such.

"Have you wasted your stash of blue spice, Callor?" Thundun exclaimed. "If you have, that is shameful to do so before duty."

"I-"

Whatever words of protest Callor wanted to take up against Thundun were forcefully cut off as the alarms of the facility blared to life. It was the first in a thousand years, yet the sudden alarm only surprised the pair of Legionaires for half a second before a lifetime of military discipline kicked in. They retrieved their scoped auto-rifles while their helmets zoomed on the horizon to where they saw the outermost sensory line blaring a bright red across the landscape. It was there they saw a single Sparrow racing across the plains with carrying two people. They instantly knew who they were when the spotted the insignias and armor they wore, and Thundun was already on the open comms.

"Attention to all forces, the Immortals have come for us!" Thundun roared into the communicator. "They come here, so let us show them our-"

A loud bang roaring out for miles drowned all sound, and in less than a millisecond Callor watched Thundun's head, including helmet, blasted apart by a single shot of a sniper rifle. His body laid still standing until black blood spilled from the stump of the neck, and the Cabal fell. Callor simply stared blankly at his formerly alive comrade.

"Shi-" That was all he could say before another shot blasted Callor's head off as well.

"Damn, how are you flying off from the recoil on that thing?" Francis said, weaving in a fluid zig-zag pattern avoiding the storm of Cabal firepower upon them.

"Because my baby is that awesome!" Cheered Ruby, now standing on the little available space upon the Sparrow with Crescent Rose Mk. II in her hands.

Yet as if her feet were locked in place, Ruby continued to fire Crescent Rose without care. The crimson and black barrel remodeled contained a purple glow indicating the ammo was on Void function, and every bullet unleashed soared through the air in a neon purple streak. Technically speaking, she wasn't even firing bullets, but rather laser blasts of condensed Light powered by a clip.

_'Oh yeah, Momma likes you lots~!' _Ruby purred, relishing how great her baby was doing picking out her targets with each pull of her trigger.

The hail of firepower became a storm, and the red sands were kicked up with hundreds of bullets landing in the air. As much confidence as Francis had in his driving, he knew they wouldn't last long like this. He already had a plan to fix this as he extended out his hand. Arc Light focused at the palm of his hand, and with a grunt of effort the Titan created a barrier of solid, translucent Light absorbing all gunfire in front of them.

The daughter of Summer continued her sniping, picking out key targets holding heavy weaponry that would pose a problem on their approach. She ignored the incoming firepower of missiles and bullets trying to destroy them, having full trust in Francis' driving skills. This was how Hunters worked on the battlefield, blocking off worldly distractions and put their sole focus on their Light, their sight, and the feel of the gun in their hands. Ruby followed that code of the Hunter as a Gunslinger very well, making her expertly focused in almost any crisis.

It was with this perception that Ruby noticed the ground shifting at multiple areas. The sands split apart into multiple holes where from them arose gun turrets. Red lights on top of a two miniguns wrapped in a red chassis almost seemed to glare ominously as they turned towards the Guardian duo. More dangerous in this growing situation was that they were numbering to over a hundred around them, with the farthest featuring missile loads.

Ruby cursed under her breath, and switched out Crescent Rose for her scout rifle, Nameless Midnight. The world seemed to slow for the Hunter as she looked down the scope with the circular reticle toward the missile launchers. In the same second, Ruby pulled the trigger once, and the bullet impacted a missile turret with in an explosive shock, rendering the plating and inner workings obsolete. She swiveled around, aimed down at her sights, and pulled the trigger to destroy another turret in less than a second. This process several times, but there were still too many for their safety, and her eyes trailed to platform now above them.

"Francis, think you can get us up there?" Ruby said, gesturing above them.

Francis mused in silence over the predicament. His eyes glanced to his right hand resting off of one of the handles of his Sparrow. As he flexed the limb, an idea came to his mind. One that was of course batshit crazy, but crazy always worked for the Guardians.

"I've got one idea." Francis answered. "Just hold on real tight."

In response to her comrade's warning, Ruby disengaged from the shoot out and sat back down on the back of the seat. As Francis continued to weave through the maze of incoming bullets, the turrets around them opened fire. Meanwhile, Francis directed his attention to his fist crackling with massive amounts of Arc Light. He gave a silent exhale to relax himself before cocking back the fist.

"Here goes nothing!" Exclaimed Francis.

He threw forward the the fist of lightning like the hammer of Mjolnir from Norse mythology. His aim was discovered to be the ground just below them, and at the moment of impact did the missile fire converge upon them. A fiery explosion of black smoke and intense heat followed the great bang that engulfed the duo of Guardians with the mushroom cloud itself rising high above to the landing platform itself. Thick silence hanged in the air, and for a moment the Cabal relaxed their guard. That was their first mistake.

(Cue "Yasha theme")

Coming out from the top of the cloud of black smoke and ash revealed themselves to be the very Guardian duo. Francis' punch filled with Arc Light had served its purpose in pushing the Sparrow up to the air to the very top, making it soar in the air like its namesake. They both drew out their hand cannons to fire down on the surprised Cabal forces below them as they came down on the platform.

_'Best idea ever!' _Francis thought, smiling like a loon behind his helm.

"This is amazing!" Cried Ruby, something in her blood boiling like mad.

Only seconds have passed till the Sparrow landed on the metal floor of the landing platform with a thunk before levitating back into action. Psion troops tried their best to gun them down, but the Sparrow moved far too fast to get a shot in and the Guardians far too skilled to leave them with their heads intact. The Cabal around them scrambled to stop their advance, but Francis was not so likely to have them do as he let Crimson sing in his right hand. Ruby had in front in the back using Francis' shoulder to steady the shots with her scout rifle.

Francis narrowed his eyes seeing something very peculiar. Their advance was being met by the Cabal by strange War Beasts. They looked bigger than average, and his eyes could see extra armor plating was in fact cybernetic enhancements that included robotic limbs that was rivaling their speed, a new spine, and a long tail tipped with a blaster. Most notable was the fact they were Psions riding on their backs, thus using them as mounts. Too nimble were they to get a good shot in and Ruby was busy with surrounding Cabal, another idea popped in Francis head.

"Better a time to test this out." Francis muttered.

With practiced ease, Francis switched out Crimson for the shotgun Roar of Yami, its sleek black design almost shining in the light. Instead of letting out its potent payload, the Titan pressed the button to activate a hidden mechanism. The shotgun's sleek design revealed the folding lines as the entire stock and barrel shifted in a mesh of rearranging metal and parts. It lengthened itself from the stock and barrel while the handling shifted up to form a shaft of the polearm. As the barrel shifted it revealed a blade hidden within the interior of the shotgun and flipped all the way to the top. The blade itself was thicker than the average sword, only half the size, and featured circuit-like etching on the steel brimming with Void Light. Once the barrel on the upper half of the forming shaft condensed to a fuller design, the shotgun had now completed its transition from its previous form to a war scythe with the polearm itself taller than the titan.

Francis held the war scythe at the lower half of the shaft parallel to the floor as if he was holding a lance. If it were an ordinary human holding the weapon they would have trouble keeping their balance. Of course Francis was a Guardian, the farthest from the ordinary, and as a Titan the war scythe may as well be a child's stick in weight. It is however a world more dangerous than a simple stick as he would prove when the cybernetic War Beasts coming upon them. Even as Ruby picked off the riders with Nameless Midnight, the War Beasts themselves still continued on with rabid glee.

"Bring your pretty face right here." Francis growled, watching a War Beast climb on top an offline Cabal ship.

It made its attack in a pounce in an attempt to knock one of the Guardians off the Sparrow. Francis did not let it come within reach, swinging around the Roar of Yami around in a black blur. The War Beast was cut cleanly in half by the stomach before its body exploded in Void Light suffused into his body from the blow. Without pause, Francis swung the war scythe in front of him swatting a Psion off his mount, which was then followed by Ruby finishing them off with precision shots to the head. At that point realizing the inevitable danger of closing in on the Titan, some of the Psions commanded their mounts to maneuver around the Guardian duo outside of Francis' range and then turn back around to chase them at their flank.

Ruby picked off as many of the Psions flanking them, but eventually she was forced to reload when her rifle clicked empty. The small seconds in replacing the clip was enough for the Psions behind them to return fire with bolts of purple plasma. One was lucky enough to hit Francis on his right shoulder with a loud hiss. While it did not penetrate Francis' tough shielding as a Titan, it was enough to make him stagger and feel the sting of the plasma heat, causing Francis to bite his lip.

"You alright?" Ruby asked in concern, getting revenge by killing the mount of the Psion that shot her comrade.

"I'll be fine." Francis said, feeling his shields regenerate. "Titans like me are made of tougher stuff. Doesn't mean I am letting them get away with that."

Looking forward, Francis saw that there were still Psions in front of them making for a charge while the cyber War Beasts fired plasma shots from their tails. Francis reversed the way he held the Roar of Yami into a stabbing grip and maneuvered his Sparrow into a narrow passage way. He waited at the right moment, and then stabbed down the war scythe upon a Psion that dared to get too close. The force Francis put into the blow skewered both the Psion and War Beast, but there combined weight meant nothing to the strength of a Titan hefting to corpses into the air.

The bodies of the Psion and the War Beast began to emit a purple glow as Void Light suffused into their flesh. Francis took one last look behind him, a wicked grin behind his helmet. An Arc Light grenade materialized in his free hand and attached it to the War Beast.

"Here's a little present!" Francis announced.

With a grunt of effort, he swung the Roar of Yami all the way around his shoulder and catapaulted the corpses of Psion and the War Beast mount. The pack of Psions and War Beasts at their flank paused their chase as one of their own fell in the middle of their ranks. The next second the whole group was engulfed in an explosion of the ever-consuming Void Light disintegrating them to their atoms with just a touch of Arc Light from the grenade.

"That is what you call awesome." Said Francis. "We're almost there at the main entrance to the inside of the facility. No one has been here for a long while, so we will be going in blind."

"Got ya back." Ruby agreed. "But we have one last problem."

Up ahead, the Cabal reorganized forming a blockade of Phalanx, War Beasts, Legionaires, and Incendiary who were led by a Centurion. So many in fact they filled the entire width of the dock, and just behind them were the metal doors of the facility opened for reinforcements. Ruby narrowed her eyes in contemplation before coming to a decision.

"Francis," Ruby spoke with seriousness, "whatever you do, keep going straight."

"What are you planning?" Francis asked, a brow raised behind his helmet.

Ruby did not say a word as she switched back to Crescent Rose. With a flick of a button, the sniper rifle shifted into her favored giant scythe. She then hoisted herself up to squat upon Francis's shoulders. The Hunter took a slow breath to focus both the intense warmth of Solar Light waiting to burst forth and her Semblance. In one single motion, Ruby launched forward like a twister of red trailing rose petals and further boosted by her power as a Guardian and using the recoil from a shot of Crescent Rose. As Ruby closed in on the blockade, she summoned forth the Light within her that was giving her a noticeable golden sheen taking over the red. The Cabal below her trailed their weapons above to shoot her down, but it all be in vain.

Once she was above the blockade, Ruby practically exploded into a miniature sun of Solar Light. The light not only blinded the Cabal forces below her, but the heat stung at their bodies beneath the armor. Her body glowed with potent amounts of Solar Light summoned through the use of her Supercharge. However, instead of manifesting the Golden Gun, the Solar Light flooding from her body coalesced between each of her fingers. The Solar Light condensed and took solid shape into burning daggers held between her fingers.

This was the alternate power born from the Way of a Thousand Cuts taught to Ruby by Summer herself. The variant of the usual Gunslinger ways focused on knife throwing and burning her enemies and replaced her use of the Golden Gun with hand held daggers made from Solar Light meant to be thrown. And throw she did, twisting flexibly like a dancer with each throw of the daggers held between her digits. Her aim was true at the back of the blockade, and when the last dagger fell the whole area exploded golden light and the heat of the sun. All of the Cabal that held the blockade burned to ashes from the Solar Light, leaving the way open for Francis to race through.

With her attack done, the Solar Light around her body dimmed away, leaving her slightly exhausted from using so much Light until it comes back. She fell without fear to the ground and just in time to land right in her seat behind Francis. There were no words said between the Guardian, only with Francis giving Ruby a thumbs-up. Ruby herself could feel the grin of approval behind his helmet.

(End ost)

As soon as the Sparrow passed the entrance into the facility built in the cliff, the Guardians jumped off and back onto their feet. Francis' Sparrow disappeared in blue motes of light to be stored for later use. Ruby and Francis equipped themselves with their kinetic weaponry at the ready. Looking back, Francis saw that the Cabal were hurrying towards them in a stampede.

"Spike!" Called Francis, and from a flash of light his Ghost appeared equipped with the Hardline Shell model painted black with blue highlights. "Shut the door down. Don't want anymore visitors."

"Roger that, partner." Spike spoke, his mechanical voice deeper than average while carrying a certain accent.

The Ghost floated to a nearby control panel, and with a few beams of light from his eye hacked into the system and the doors of the facility came down shut. They could hear Cabal forces outside banging on the hull to somehow break in, but to no avail. Ruby and Francis were left with an eerie quiet, and in that moment did Ruby realize the situation she put herself and the Titan in. Here they were in unknown territory, possibly unprepared, and no way to get backup.

"What do we do now?" Ruby asked Francis.

"Now?" Francis said, clicking the chamber of Crimson back with a full clip. "Now the fun begins."

* * *

**Hope you liked that sequence. I always wondered if Bungie would ever add a feature where two Guardians can hitch a ride together with one of them able to fire from the back. It would have made for some awesome moments during Raids and certain Strikes in the past. This is what I feel it could have been with sequences of epic chase and gunfire from all around. But what awaits this brave duo in the confines of the abandoned Exo-tech facility?**

**As for the Raid coming in future chapters for the Last Wish, I have a completed list of volunteers:**

**The Neckbeard Knight: Awoken Titan Sora Falken.**

**Awesome jalapeo: Human Warlock Phoenix Ashbourne.**

**Shinku: Hunter Fenrir Nightshade.**

**blueassassin996: Hunter Simewell Warden. - I would like to request a description of the armor by the type and what his name is.**

**Tsolda: Hunter. - I would like to request a name, what race they are, and what type of armor he is wearing.**

**Up next is Chapter 11: Spare Parts Vol. 2.**

**Stay in touch. Please, _please _leave a review.**


End file.
